Luton Town: Belief high among the Hatters camp says first team coach Hakan Hayrettin

First team coach Hakan Hayrettin is confident that whatever team Luton Town are able to field against Gillingham in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy on Tuesday night is capable of victory.

It’s little wonder that belief is high at Kenilworth Road as the Hatters have won six out of their last seven games in all competitions, including their last four, and are now the highest scorers in League Two.

Their form on the road was particularly impressive last week as they followed up a 3-1 midweek victory at Morecambe by thrashing Hartlepool United 4-1 last Saturday.

Hayrettin said: “We actually believe that, whoever we play against, we can win. The staff have drummed that into the players and obviously the gaffer (John Still) has been at the forefront of that.

“He makes everybody believe that, whoever we play, we can beat them and whatever eleven he puts out is capable of beating any team.

“He believes that any of his players in the first-team squad are capable of being in the starting eleven at any given time.

“It’s going to be a very important game for those who haven’t played in a little while so it’ll be interesting to see how they get on, but there are no grey areas in the staff’s point of view that they’re not going to do well because we know they’re all capable.”

The players who haven’t had many minutes on the pitch lately include the likes of Magnus Okuonghae, who Still has eased back to fitness after a ruptured Achilles tendon.

Still’s patience has also allowed Luton to recover well from a sluggish start to the campaign, which has been a feature at the beginning of each of the three seasons under his management.

Hayrettin said: “When, at the beginning of the season, thing probably weren’t going as well, the gaffer has always mentioned that with his training regime, there’s an overload at the start.

“The teams don’t start quick, but you can now see that it’s coming to fruition and the players are working really hard to make sure that everything falls into place.

“It’s never been about not being confident. It’s about picking up progress like we have and in the previous two seasons here, it’s been a similar pattern and, from my point of view, it’s rocking and rolling at the moment.”