Pearson insists Luton are still in a 'danger zone' as he aims for 50 point mark

Defender wants to make sure Town achieve Championship safety as soon as possible
Hatters defender Matty PearsonHatters defender Matty Pearson
Hatters defender Matty Pearson

Luton defender Matty Pearson insists his side are still in the ‘danger zone’ as they aim to cement their place in the Championship for another season.

Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at runaway leaders Norwich City for the Hatters means that after the midweek round of matches, Town sitting out due to their game against Rotherham being postponed, they were 12 points clear of the third bottom Millers with 12 games to go.

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It is a far better position that an the same stage last term when Town were 14 points worse off, sitting rock bottom and staring relegation in the face, six adrift of safety.

Although they are now in the relative safety of mid-table, Pearson knows they still have plenty of work to do to make sure they retain their place in the second tier.

He said: “I still put pressure on ourselves and it’s not over yet.

“We were in a different position last year, we were chasing, this time, we’re in a danger zone now.

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“We can’t get comfortable, we’re not safe, but then if you pick up a couple of wins we could shoot up the league.

“We’ve got a lot of games to play, we don’t need to get too carried away, we need to concentrate, apply ourselves and get back to putting points on the board.

“I want to finish as high as we can, and every game we’re going into try to win.

“It’s not we’ll try to settle for a point or anything, even today (Saturday) we’ve come with a game-plan to win the game.

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“It’s not set up shop and stick it out and get the draw, it’s come to win and that’s our focus going forward.”

Town will look to make it three wins from four games when they host promotion-chasing Swansea City at Kenilworth Road this weekend.

The Swans are flying high in the division, with two late penalties seeing them pick up two last-gasp wins, as they have climbed up the table to sit third, in with a real chance of going up automatically this term.

Despite their lofty position, Pearson is remaining confident on home soil, adding: “Looking at the fixtures, we’ve got a few, Coventry, Rotherham, teams around us that we’ll play and feel confident.

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“We’ve got a few tough games like Swansea too, but when we’re at home, I fancy us against anyone."

There is a chance that Pearson could keep the armband after he wore it at Carrow Road on Saturday in the absence of Sonny Bradley and Glen Rea, although it could return to the latter should be be available again.

On the role, Pearson said: "It’s an honour to captain Luton, but we’ve got a number of leaders, Glen Rea, Collo (James Collins), Sonny, got loads of boys who can step up.

"I don’t see it as a big issue, we’ve got enough leaders out there that we don’t need a specific captain, we've got enough experienced lads."

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One of the more experienced players has been alongside Pearson for the last two games, transfer window acquisition Kal Naismith moving to centre half with both Bradley and Tom Lockyer out injured.

When asked about the partnership, the centre half said: "I’ve known of Kal, I know he can play centre back and it’s never been an issue for him.

"It’s nice to have a left-sided centre half and I think it’s been going well.

"We've been doing all right, we just need to get more points, get over the 50 point mark and hopefully we’ll do that soon."

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