Newcastle youngster happy to play for Luton in Trophy if needed

Attacking midfielder Alex Gilliead is happy to play in tonight's EFL Checkatrade Trophy tie with League One side Millwall if called upon by Luton boss Nathan Jones.
Hatters midfielder Alex GillieadHatters midfielder Alex Gilliead
Hatters midfielder Alex Gilliead

The 20-year-old was part of the team who defeated West Bromwich Albion U23s at Kenilworth Road last time out, scoring the first goal in a 2-0 victory.

Gilliead has since started Luton’s last four League Two games though, but on playing, he said: “I’m happy to play as many games as I can. If I’m called upon and I need to play I’ll be more than happy to do that.

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“In the Checkatrade Trophy he (Jones) plays a young squad and changes it a bit. I think it shows that we’ve got a lot of good players that aren’t playing at the minute. It’s just a chance for everyone to show what they can do.”

Boss Jones is looking for his side to continue their winning run in the competition against a Lions side who are below them just on goal difference, as it would ensure a home draw in the next round.

He said: “There’s incentive anyway to win a football match and that’s all the incentive we need, everything else is secondary.

“Yes to top the group means a home draw, but we want to continue our unbeaten run, we’re nine unbeaten in all competitions and hopefully we can do that.”

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The Luton chief has confirmed he will rotate the squad once more, as he continues to put his trust in the young players coming through at Kenilworth Road.

He added: “Winning the games has been good and we’ve been able to use the squad.

“We’ve treated it as a serious competition and we’ve managed to bed in young players and demonstrate what a strong squad we’ve got.

“That’s a big thing and going into the next few weeks, we’ve got a squad that can cope with these games at the minute, that’s a credit to everyone at the football club, so we don’t make any apologies for that.

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“We’re in a decent position we think, league-wise and a decent position in terms of our development of the squad and where we are.

“The Trophy we’ve treated it with proper intent and that’s shown in the results. We’re playing a hungry group, because that’s the most important thing, it’s a hungry group wanting to win a football match and that’s what we’ll do.

“But credit to everyone at the football club for assembling a squad that’s able to compete in every competition we’ve had, at a top level, as that’s what we have done.

“The only cup game we’ve lost this year has been to Leeds and Leeds were very fortunate to get out of here with a victory. So I think we’ve treated every competition with the respect it deserves and I think we’ve been a credit to every competition.”