Luton could set a new Football League club record for defensive stinginess if they keep a clean sheet at Kenilworth Road against Plymouth tomorrow.
The Hatters have conceded only three goals in their opening six League One matches, which is their equal best start since 1989/90 and matched only by the 1921/22, 1968/69 and 1969/70 campaigns. Should they shut out Argyle and keeper Josh Keeley claims a fifth clean sheet, it would be the fewest goals ever conceded by Luton across the first seven Football League games of a season.
Though Town achieved similar twice in the Conference, it marks a remarkable turnaround from last term’s Championship struggle, when Luton shipped 69 goals, the joint fourth-worst record in the division and a key factor in relegation. Though their goals against tally was slightly improved after Bloomfield arrived because prior to his first league game in charge they’d let in the joint second highest number of goals (44) in the division.
The manager, who has talked this week about assembling a squad that gels off the pitch as well as on, believes that defensive solidity is the foundation for what Luton hope will be a promotion push this term.
“I think it’s crucial,” he said, adding: “Any good season or any good team is built on solid foundations and those solid foundations, or good defence, in my opinion, are the bedrock of a very good changing room, full of good people who have a big hunger and desire to represent the football club and to achieve together. That’s the foundations of which you can go and build on.
“And without those, the other bits, they can’t be sustained, I don’t believe. So, it’s about us continuing to build those foundations, try and be as strong as we possibly can. And also having a team that can go and hurt our opposition because it’s essentially scoring goals and hurting your opposition is what wins your games. But yeah, it’s really pleasing. There’s been a huge amount of hard work that’s gone into that since we came in, in January, and we have to keep going after it.”
While the defence has tightened impressively, Bloomfield’s side have also started to find their scoring touch. They netted seven times across their last two league and cup outings before the international break, with every forward now off the mark for the season.
Before then, goals had been hard to come by for some time. At the start of Bloomfield’s reign, only five other Championship teams had bagged less than their 27 goals at that stage of the season, but when relegation was confirmed on goal difference in a chastening final day at West Brom, it was only Hull (44) who had scored less than his side’s 45.
Town again started slowly this season, with just five strikes in their first five games, but a 3-0 blitz of Burton before the international break, plus a 4-1 win in the Vertu Trophy against Barnet, has vastly improved their output.
“[I’m] really pleased,” Bloomfield said, adding: “I’m not sure I’m very good at patience, but I knew [for the] first few games this season, I had to be patient because we brought Nigel [Lonwijk] in to play as a centre half and he was having to play as a wing-back because Cohen [Bramall] wasn’t up to speed, Gideon [Kodua] wasn’t up to speed.
“Shayden [Morris] wasn’t here, so we knew that it was an evolving group and an ongoing process and I had to try and be a little bit patient with that, try to be solid and try and pick up points while we were trying to get to the place that we wanted to be.
“Now we’re showing signs of being the team that we want to be. There’s been some really big signs of hope in the last two games. We’ve created chances, we’ve scored some goals. Without being erratic, we wanted to be a team that plays on the front foot and attacks, especially at home in front of our supporters, we want to give them more goals, more chances, more action to celebrate.
“That’s the team we want to be and that’s where we’re trying to head to. We have to be patient as well as impatient. We want to get there as soon as we can, but also, we’re a moulding a group together and we’re really happy with the what they’re doing. So, the hunger and desire has to be there for more. But in terms of the last two games, what we’ve produced in terms of attacking threat, there’s been some good moments.”
Saturday’s clash with Plymouth – who have conceded the most League One goals this term with 15 – offers Luton the chance not only to keep their defensive streak alive but to show that a more potent attack is now ready to match that rock-solid back line.
Here’s the Plymouth preview from the Luton Town Supporters’ Trust Podcast, featuring The Lutonian writer James Cunliffe, where they talk about what Hatters fans can look forward to now the transfer window has shut and Bloomfield has his squad assembled …
