Andrew Shinnie believes there are early season similarities to Luton’s start last term which indicate that a first win Championship win will ignite their campaign.
Town’s 1-0 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday last night was the first time since April 2016 that they’ve lost three on the spin in league competition, but it didn’t tell the whole story.
The Hatters dominated the first half at Hillsborough, as they had done at home to West Brom on Saturday, only to slip-up within ten minutes of the restart, which is a pattern that has blighted positive performances in all three defeats.
On their way to the League One title last term, Luton began with two defeats and a draw against fancied promotion contenders Portsmouth, Sunderland and Peterborough. But they finished breaking records, including a 28-game unbeaten run.
Midfielder Shinnie said: “It’s never going to be easy, stepping up. It’s a tough league and there have been some tough games to start, but we’ve done very well.
“It’s kind of similar to last season. We were playing well but couldn’t get a result at the start of the season. But once we got that first result we took off. We’ve got a similar feeling this year but we just need to get that first win.
“I feel like we’re playing well. Stuff we’re working on with the gaffer in training is coming off in games. We’re looking good in possession but, as the gaffer said, have a little bit more belief that we can come here, win games of football and take our chances. We’re getting closer, I think.
“After the first three games last year, think people were wondering how it was going to go for us and then once we got that win we took off with confidence, so hopefully this year when we get that first win, we’ll get confidence from that and then push on.”
Despite the unusual losing feeling, the midfielder, who returned to the starting line-up against Wednesday, says there’s no reason to feel downhearted.
“It’s not so much pressure,” he said of the wait for a first victory, adding: “You just want to win your first game and get that three points, get that feel-good factor of winning.
“We’ve played well, it’s not as if we’ve been poor most games and we’re getting dominated. We’ve competed very well and we’ve probably been the better team in most of the games but it’s just killing teams off, keeping a clean sheet, seeing teams off and game management. It’s just working on those things and I’m sure it’s coming.”
Town can take heart from an opening period at Hillsborough in which they were the dominant force, but just couldn’t find the net to assert their position – the first time they’ve been shutout this season.
Shinnie came close to a goal with an opportunistic lob from deep after keeper Keiren Westwood had vacated his goal and aimed a poor clearance in his direction.
He said: “I tried to start it out to the left and bend it in but it just started it too far in the middle of the goal, but he just managed to get fingertips.
“I was gutted. That would’ve been good to get in the lead at that point because their fans probably would’ve really turned. It was a good save from him in the end and just a bit unlucky.”
