Now That`s the Spirit!

Ahead of the game, against Grimsby, John Still had inferred that he had a selection problem at right-back.

But, having already, several weeks ago, intimated that he need to see what various smembers of the squad could offer him, Still used the situation to his advantage by electing to play Jonathan Smith out of position.

As Still said in his after match interview, it was a situation that could have had two scenarios, it could have worked a treat or it could have back-fired, or as Still put it so succinctly,

“I had this thing in my head that he could play right back, I saw him in training and he could.”

“It`s about trying to find out what everybody can do. Sometimes, you do something and it looks shocking and doesn`t work, but sometimes that`s as important as finding out what`s good.”

“If next season something happens and we need someone to play right back, who`s going to play right back? Well, Smudge can play right back, Simon Ainge can play right back.”

“You find out a lot about players, how they look at it themselves. Do they sulk about not playing in their best position, or do they say, I`ll go and do it?”

“That`s what he did and what Simon did. That`s fantastic as it tells me they`re team players and I thought Smudge was good, very good.”

I imagine it`s the sort of attitude displayed by both players that will stand the in good stead when Still implements the next stage of Project Luton!