Lawless determined to help Hatters end Stags hoodoo

Town travel to the One Call Stadium to face Mansfield Town, a venue where they have never won a league match in their history, dating back to 1932.

The Hatters tasted victory once, that in September 1989 when Roy Wegerle and Lars Elstrup scored doubles during a 4-3 League Cup win.

However, last season’s 1-0 defeat extended Luton’s miserable record to just six draws and seven defeats from their 13 league visits.

Lawless was well aware of the unenviable record, as he said: “I’ve been here a while now and I know that, but there’s no better time now to change that.

“We’ve got a new manager, a new approach, so lets get rid of those silly little historical things.

“We’ve improved in certain areas quite quickly, so if we can build on that (draw with Cambridge), it’s a point, a clean sheet too.

“Attacking-wise we’re working on a lot of things and hopefully we’ll start seeing that as well, so I’ve no doubts that it will come good, definitely.

“As players we’re looking forward to the next game already, so that’s a good sign.”

To finally return victorious from Mansfield, Luton will need to end a run of four games and 360 minutes of football without a goal.

Defender Magnus Okuonghae believes his side are more than capable though, continuing: “There are no easy games, but with what we’ve got in the squad, then lets hope we do (score).

“I know there’ll be a lot of people disappointed with our form this season, but if we get it right, it will be very hard for teams to stop us.

“Hopefully another weeks training and the buzz of that result will stand us in good stead.

“That gives us a foundation and if as a team we can defend like we did, then we’ve got every chance of winning games.”

Hatters go into the game nine points adrift of the play-offs, but Okuonghae insists they aren’t giving up hope just yet.

He added: “We know that we should be doing better and I don’t think there’s any player in that dressing room who will settle for not pushing for the play-offs.

“It’s tough, we’ve given ourselves a mountain to climb, but the squad is strong enough to compete and do that.

“Hopefully we can get ourselves going, and as players, we will put pressure on ourselves to try and get ourselves up there.”