D'Ath urges Town's '˜League One' squad to step up to the plate

Town's '˜League One' squad need to step up and become men during the final seven games of the campaign if they want to be celebrating promotion in the summer according to recent signing Lawson D'Ath.
Town midfielder Lawson D'AthTown midfielder Lawson D'Ath
Town midfielder Lawson D'Ath

The former Northampton player has seen first hand what it takes to get out of the League Two, having been a major part of the Cobblers’ romp to the title last season.

When asked what was needed from Luton’s players, after they saw their automatic hopes hanging by a thread with defeat to Colchester United on Saturday, D’Ath said: “At Northampton, we had a lot of older, experienced players and they helped me through it.

“We’ve got to step up now and help everyone through it again and we’ve got to be men really.

“We’ve got to step up to the plate and we can’t be conceding early, we’ve got to start the game better.

“Whether that’s playing forward a bit earlier or whatever, getting into a good shape and then once the game gets going, I’m confident in our ability as a team.

“As I think it’s one of the best teams I’ve played in to be honest, technically, and that’s the thing.

“Maybe we have got a younger squad and sometimes people are still learning their trade.

“I’m still learning my trade, I’m only 24, I’m not exactly an experienced 27-year-old.

“But I’ve got that experience of going up that I can take with me and now we just need to step up as a team and come together as one.”

From being part of a Cobblers squad who blitzed the league last term, finishing as champions by 13 points, D’Ath believes Town have just as a good a choice of playing personnel at their disposal.

He continued: “Definitely, I think technically, our squad is League One standard to be honest.

“We’ve just got to put that technical now into a tactical know-how of the game. If we put that into place and then our technical ability will come through.”

With fellow promotion chasers Blackpool at Kenilworth Road this weekend, D’Ath is more than aware his side need to take their second half performance from the 2-1 defeat at Colchester into Saturday’s clash, with no repeat of their first half display.

He added: “We killed ourselves in the first half really, as you could see second half I thought we were the better team by a long way.

“If we had come out better to begin with, then I think we win the game.

“I suppose the good thing out of it is we came out second half and gave everything.

“Probably on a luckier day we could get back in the game, maybe even go on to win the game.

“But we’ve got to be better the first half and stop that from happening so we don’t have to chase the game.

“If we take that second half performance into the next game, straight from the off, then hopefully we can kill teams off early instead of chasing the game.”