Teden Mengi scored the second goal of his senior career in the Hatters’ 1-0 win at Millwall – and insisted he has it in his locker to score even more stunners like that superb curling strike!
The England Under-21 centre-back strolled on to Liam Walsh’s pass to bend in a beauty from outside the area with just ten minutes on the clock at The Den.
“I’ve got that in my locker, I do it all the time in training so it’s about time I did it in a game,” said the 22-year-old after securing our first three point haul of the season, adding: “But more importantly we got the win, so I’m happy about that.”
Teden ran towards the 2,000 travelling Hatters in the upper tier of the North Stand with his arms out-stretched – a celebration he dedicated to his best friend.
“The celebration, he said, “it’s actually my boy Manny’s birthday today, and he wanted me to do that – so I told him if I scored, I’ll do it.”
The former Manchester United youngster played on the left of a back three in south-east London, when previously he has played centrally or on the right.
“Anywhere across the back three, I’m comfortable playing any of those positions,” said Teden. “It’s just wherever the gaffer needs me to play, I’m prepared to do a shift.”
After picking up a yellow card in the 41st minute, Teden showed great discipline to stay on the pitch, despite the partisan home crowd calling for him to be shown a second card for a foul on Duncan Watmore in first-half injury-time.
“I’m on a tightrope, and we’ve been in the position before where we have a man less than the opposition and I know it’s not nice, so it’s not fair if I lose my head or do something that puts the team in jeopardy,” said Teden, reflecting on the situation he found himself in.
“So I had to be smart and play with maturity and not do anything stupid, just keep my cool but also play with aggression – controlled aggression, I like to call it – so I was able to stay on the pitch.”
Having had to lead the defence on so many occasions during 2024 with injuries having kept team-mates out for long periods of the Premier League run-in, and the first game of this season, Teden spoke of the education he is receiving at Kenilworth Road.
“I took a lot from last season, he said. “I played a lot of games, but as the games went on, you just learn more and more things and the group is such an experienced group.
“So every day, even now, you learn so much from the players just being there, every day being around them, so it’s credit to everyone.”
Finally, the defender believes the Millwall win is the start of the Hatters’ rise up the Championship table.
“We know that we are capable of doing this, so we’ve just got to take away this feeling, remember this feeling and just keep kicking on,” he said.
“We’ve got to be ruthless – that’s in both boxes. We were able to keep a clean sheet today. Just keep scoring goals and play as a team, not as individuals. We just need to keep kicking on and hopefully get more wins on the bounce.”
