Gary Brabin hailed the match-winning performance of Stuart Fleetwood after the striker booked Luton’s place in the FATrophy quarter finals with the winner in a 2-1 triumph at Kidderminster Harriers.
The forward’s goal in first half injury time made up for a missed penalty – the Hatters’ seventh this season – a statistic that the manager admitted is ‘alarmingly worrying’, but the former Hereford hitman also had a hand in Jake Howells’ opener in an otherwise productive night.
“That was more like the Stuart Fleetwood that we know and love,” said Brabin. “He did brilliantly for Jake Howells’ goal and is probably gutted he didn’t get on the scoresheet before he did, but he scored a fantastic goal to win it.”
He added: “Everybody has seen what a good player he is when he first came. Stuart is another one who probably hasn’t performed to the levels he knows he’s capable of.
“But when Stuart Fleetwood is on form he’s a force to be reckoned with. He’s the striker that we’ve been wanting and if he can give us the form we know he’s capable of then that’s a massive plus for us.”
While Town’s customary penalty miss counted for nothing, it still played on the mind of the manager.
Brabin said:“Aaron O’Connor was injured and George Pilkington wasn’t involved. Stuart is a goalscorer and he wanted to take it.
“It is something that is alarmingly worrying but we are still creating chances and scoring goals.
“That’s [penalties] something we need to improve on and it’s a monkey we need to get off our back."
But it was the only sour point of a purposeful performance against one of Luton’s Blue Square Bet Premier promotion rivals.
“I’m delighted with it,” said Brabin, adding: “From minute one the lads played some great football, showed character and determination.“That’s the strongest squad I’ve got at the minute, apart from George Pilkington, who I gave the night off.
“We haven’t got an FATrophy team – we’ve got a good squad and this was a chance to show us what they’re capable of, and I thought they did.
“We involve everyone in the day to day stuff so everyone understands their roles.”
He added: “I’m happy with the players that we’ve got and I know we’ve got more. We just need to keep winning games, improving and if we can get a few more performances like that then we’ll be delighted.”
The Hatters will face either Gateshead of Alfreton Town at home on February, 25, in the last eight of the FA Trophy.
