Striker Stuart Fleetwood has backed Luton Town to banish their woes from the penalty spot sooner rather than later after becoming the latest player to suffer from 12 yards.
In fairness, Fleetwood’s missed spot kick in the 2-1 midweek FA Trophy win over Kidderminster Harriers was more to do with the excellent save by Dean Lyness.
However, it was still the seventh time the Hatters have failed to convert a penalty this season.
The striker is not worried by that, though.
“It’s nothing to do with not being accomplished penalty takers because everyone can do that as a footballer,” he said.
“You should be able to score from 12 yards, but if you hit the post or the keeper saves it, or it goes wide, it’s just one of those things and you get on with it.
“Obviously we might be in a better position if we did tuck away our penalties, but it’s just one of those things.
“It’s not luck or anything like that, it’s just one of those things that sometimes it goes through or it doesn’t.
“I hit it well enough, but the keeper made a good save. I was disappointed not to score but happy that we went through in the end.”
Despite his penalty being saved, Fleetwood played a big part in the victory at Aggborough that booked Luton’s spot in the quarter finals.
It was him who provided the assist for Jake Howells’ opener, and then on the stroke of half time the 25-year-old grabbed the goal that proved to be the difference on the night.
A home tie against either Gateshead or Alfreton Town awaits the Hatters in the quarter finals and Fleetwood has his eyes on going all the way.
“That’s on the boys’ minds,” he said. “As a footballer you want to play at Wembley, it doesn’t matter what competition it is in.
“From the team we put out and the way we played we’ve shown to everybody how much this competition does mean to us.
“We want to win every game we play as professionals, so we’re happy to get through to the next round and a home tie is nice.”
His goal kept up Fleetwood’s record of scoring in every round of the competition so far this season, taking him to nine for the season.
He feels that he is starting to get back to his best form, although he has not set himself any targets for the number of goals he wants to get this season Fleetwood said: “I just want to try to get as many as I can, and in every game I play in I want to try to score a goal.
“I think the last three games I’ve played in I have scored and that’s important for me as a striker.
“My game is based on goals, so if I can get into double figures I’ll see how I get on from there.
“I’ve scored in every round so I wanted to keep that going. It was a strong Kidderminster team and we put out a strong team as well, and it was a great game to watch.
“We played some good football, created some good chances and we could have been four up at half time, but we crossed the line in the end.”
