Club

Tom Lockyer | "This is why we play the game!"

Hatters defender Tom Lockyer says the Town squad are looking forward to the prospect of kicking off a second successive Sky Bet Championship play-off campaign in front of a sell-out 45,000 crowd at Sunderland tomorrow.

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The Wales international was among the players who didn’t feature in Monday’s final league game against Hull City as manager Rob Edwards focussed on successfully keeping the majority of the squad fully fit knowing that third place was already assured.

“It’s fun, isn’t it? It’s exciting, I’m sure all the fans feel the same,” said Lockyer when asked by the Press how the squad were feeling.

“There’s been a great atmosphere in camp this week, erring on the side of caution not to get injured and trying to train hard at the same time, so it's been a good week, it's been fun. This is the business end of it and this is why we play the game.”

Lockyer is relishing walking out in front of a sold out Stadium of Light in the game that will be screened live on Sky Sports, with kick-off 5.30pm.

“I think you’ve got to thrive in the occasion otherwise it will pass you by,” said the former Bristol Rovers captain. “I’ve always enjoyed the bigger games and the bigger atmospheres, going to the lesser grounds and the lesser teams can be not as fun sometimes. The bigger games are what everyone looks forward to.

“It’s one to be enjoyed, it will be amazing. We’ll have to handle the occasion, maybe whoever handles it better will come out better on the day, but it‘s one to look forward to.

“These games don’t come around often in a player’s career, so to be involved in these types of games is one you look forward to and one you’re going to remember at the end of your career.”

Town will be backed by 2,000 of our own supporters, and the centre-half added: “If our away fans are anything to go by from last time, we can hear them all the way up in the heavens like we did then, that will be fantastic as well.”

If he plays, Lockyer will reach a landmark in his Luton Town career as he will bring up a century of appearances in a Hatters shirt.

Asked if it will be a special moment, he said: “Yes, it’s not something I really knew. It was only the other day when I looked and I was on 99, and I was like, is that true, is it?

“It’s nice to see that I’ll have 100 appearances for a special club like Luton, and hopefully we can mark it with a win.”

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