Wilkin praise for title-chasing Hatters

The Boro chief saw his side hold Luton to a 0-0 scoreline in the first half at Kenilworth Road on Saturday, before they were overpowered in the second period, as Andre Gray netted a hat-trick.

Wilkin said: “I thought we moved the ball pretty well in the first half, asked one or two questions, but didn’t perhaps quite get the breaks that you need when you come to a difficult place like Kenilworth Road.

“First half I thought it was a very even contest as we got into come good areas, but credit to Luton, they’re a strong side and in a good place mentally, and that was tough for us.

“One of those half chance you need to stick in the back of the net and take them out of that comfort zone they possibly put themselves in earlier on in the second half.

“Credit to Luton though, they’ve ground us down, they’re a good side and I’m sure they’ll go very close to winning it.”

Wilkin was unimpressed by his own team’s performance in the second period though as he felt two of the goals they gave away were avoidable.

He continued: “We haven’t had enough players do well in the second half and when you come to places like here against the league leaders, you need everybody right on top of their game and not enough of them have done.

“The final two goals are not great, we can’t afford to give people that time and space as they’ll hurt you.

“They’re in a good enough place at 1-0, we made life difficult for ourselves in the second half.”

On hat-trick hero Gray, Wilkin added: “He’s a good player, very quick, very direct and scored a cracking first goal to give them the impetus.”

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