The Luton Town View: Hylton League Two’s best striker?

23 goals for Hylton – bbc.co.uk

Since winning the Conference title in 13-14, Luton Town have been in a League Two promotion race in two of the subsequent three seasons. Most clubs would be very happy with that progress, yet at Kenilworth Road there is expectation for the club to throw its weight in the higher echelons of English football. Will they take another forward step this term? Supporter Dave O’Flanagan (@LTFC_Dave) has his say.

Luton Town look unlikely to drop out of the play-offs, but are seven points off the top three. A progressive campaign?

Definitely progressive, however how big that leap is depends on what happens between now and the end of the season. If we don’t get promoted, then I don’t think you can say we’ve moved forward very much. If we do start next season in League 1, then clearly the progress made under Nathan Jones is very good.

There were high hopes for Jack Marriott after a good August, but he hasn’t quite kicked on in terms of goalscoring. Has he suffered from the competition up top?

I don’t think the competition up top is really the issue, if anything it was probably the lack of it with Craig Mackail-Smith struggling for fitness most of the season and Issac Vassell being relatively unproven at this level. His goal return this year has been a little disappointing, especially on paper, but a lot of his appearances have been small cameos off the bench. With Vassell’s run of goals drying up recently, I wouldn’t be surprised if Marriott forces his way into the starting XI before the end of the season.

Danny Hylton scored 16 goals for Oxford in 14/15 and has been part of promotion-chasing teams in the last two seasons. Is he among the most complete strikers at this level?

Well it’s a sentiment that myself and Nathan Jones both share, although we’re both a little biased, but for me Hylton is the best striker in the division. He has consistently scored goals at this level, but has been able to top that this year with 23 goals. The only criticism of him would be the silly yellow cards he picks up – although these have dried up in recent games  – 11 for the season – meaning there’s still a slight concern about him picking up 15 and missing another 3 games.

The other arrival from the Kassam has been Johnny Mullins, but none of your centre-backs have started more than 26 games. More consistency needed there?

No. We had the best defence in the League in terms of goals conceded although I think Mullins did have the best games/clean sheets ratio, so I don’t think that’s the issue really. We’re blessed to have quality options in there with Scott Cuthbert, Mullins and Glen Rea can also drop back there, whilst Alan Sheehan gives you the ball-playing option as well.  We’ve also had youngsters Akin Famewo and Frankie Musonda feature and do well.

Since goalkeeper Christian Walton was recalled by Brighton at the end of January, you’ve only kept two clean sheets in nine, both in dominant displays against Hartlepool and Yeovil. Jury out on Matt Macey?

Unfortunately for Matt Macey he’s come to the club to replace a man who had become a hero in his short time at Luton. Like with Hylton, Walton was the best player in his position in my opinion even being capped by England U21s during his time here and it was always going to be difficult to replace him. Stuart Moore who was initially signed as an emergency loan had a nightmare debut v Cheltenham, and only played one more game, before playing second fiddle to Macey.

I do agree that Macey – especially coming from Arsenal – hasn’t lived up to expectations yet, but there’s plenty of time for that to change and for him to make himself a hero. If performances don’t improve, questions will have to be asked why Jones went into the season with a permanent, experienced ‘keeper.

You’ve been without 10-goal midfielder Cameron McGeehan since the start of January. Has his injury been a hindrance?

Simply, yes. The only other midfielder in this division who got close to making the sort of impact he did attacking wise is Plymouth’s Graham Carey (again as with Hylton/Walton, I think there’s a fair argument to say McGeehan was the best player in his position in the League) and he had a knack of managing to pop up with goals even when he didn’t play well.  Any side is going to miss a midfield who’s bagged 10 goals by January and unfortunately our remaining midfielders haven’t stepped up to replace McGeehan’s goal tally

Academy graduate James Justin has made his breakthrough at this year. At a time when Luton are investing big money to get out of this league, is it nice to see a home-grown lad get a chance?

I’m not too fussed about this home-grown belief personally, however the emergence of James Justin – coming in for the underperforming Stephen O’Donnell – has been good. As anyone who has read my Q&A’s before will know, I’m not one to shy away from a controversial opinion, and for my money, whilst I would probably still give him the nod over O’Donnell (although Stephen was given man of the match v Carlisle on Tuesday), I don’t think his displays have been THAT good.

One of the criticisms you had of John Still was his loyalty to the old guard – players who had done well for the club in non-league but weren’t quite good enough to take Luton up another level. Is the team’s improvement this year partly down to Jones being ruthless and letting those players go?

Yes and no. At the time of writing, I believe none of the players that have left the club since Jones took over are playing for a club higher in the League pyramid than us, with the exception of Mark Tyler who was allowed to rejoin Peterborough so that suggests he was right to let the “old guard” go. Saying that, some of Jones’ signings like Jake Gray, and more recently Lawson D’Ath and Luke Gambin haven’t been featuring with Jones persisting with players like Jonathan Smith who in my opinion, whilst he was always give you 100%, doesn’t offer much in terms of technical quality.

It looks like you’ll be in the play-offs with Carlisle, Stevenage and possibly Exeter. How would you rate your chances against those teams? I’d imagine you’d want revenge against Boro…

Right. This is where I’m meant to say something cagey so I don’t look stupid in a few weeks time isn’t it? As much as it’s a cliche, the play offs really are a lottery, and Luton’s involvement in that proves that point. Unable to beat Wrexham in the regular season, but turning them over twice in two seasons in the play offs, and losing to AFC Wimbledon despite them not scoring past us in 5 hours of football.

Saying that, I have said that Portsmouth are the only team that I feared and at the time of writing (pre-capitulation at Stevenage!) it looks like they’ve got their act together and will probably take 3rd. I would be fairly confident against any other side although it is all about who turns up on the day. With them doubling us this season, I guess it wouldn’t be too disappointing to see us beat Stevenage at Wembley, thanks to a defensive error from one of their former Luton contingent!