Vassell: We can't crumble now

The forward had seen his team in an excellent position after beating Yeovil Town 4-0 recently, a result which put them a point behind third-placed Carlisle and two points above Portsmouth.

But a run of no wins in five, including two defeats, has seen Town drop to sixth, and they are now eight points off Pompey in third, with just seven matches to go.

After another disappointing reverse at Colchester last weekend, Vassell said: “We’re making it hard for ourselves, but we can’t give up now, we can’t crumble now.

“They’ll be a good work ethic this week I reckon, we’ll get our heads on it, we can’t dwell on this game, it’s gone now.

“Yes we’re running out of steam, the pressure’s building, but I still think we’ve got a good enough squad and good enough players to achieve something special here.”

On what that might be, Vassell retained the belief there is a chance of going up automatically.

He continued: “I still think top three is achievable. If we win six then we should be in a good position, even seven, seven will get us into the top three I reckon.

“We’ve just got to win our games.

“The fans have just got to stick with us and hopefully they’ll give us what we need.”

Town boss Nathan Jones wasn’t giving up hope of catching Luton’s south coast rivals either.

When asked if he thought the top three remained a possibility for his faltering side, he added: “Of course, but not in the form we’re in, so something has to change.

“Third place is still in touching distance, it’s a big arm that we need to touch it, but it’s there.

“What we’ve got to make sure is that we concentrate on us and make sure we pick up the points that we need as if we don’t do that, it doesn’t matter what anyone else does.

“It’s seven games now to make sure that we achieve our goal and performances like the first half we won’t, we’ll have an early summer, and a disappointing one, but second half is what we have to build on.”