LUTON Town boosted their survival hopes ahead of the weekend visit of Middlesbrough, but smarting Cardiff boss Omer Riza said the Hatters are "not a great team" and "robbed" the Bluebirds.
It's been a miserable first season back in the Championship for Luton, who face the prospect of successive relegations.
But the Hatters gave themselves a much-needed lift with a 2-1 away victory at Cardiff on Tuesday, closing to within two points of the Bluebirds and safety.
Riza, though, wasn't particularly complimentary of Luton.
He said: “They weren't great, they weren't great today, they’re not a great team.
"We've given them the opportunity to claw back some points against us and that's on us. Whether they can continue to go and rob other teams like they've robbed us today, which seems to be a common theme with us at the moment, I'm not sure, probably not, but we've got to worry about ourselves. If I said I was disappointed it’s an understatement."
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That vital midweek win has given Luton a much-needed shot of confidence, says midfielder Jordan Clark, who wants to give Boro the "full Kenny experience" when Michael Carrick's side visit Kenilworth Road on Saturday.
It's a crucial game for Boro too, having closed to within three points of the play-off places thanks to Tuesday's win over QPR.
Clark said: “If Cardiff had beaten us we would have been eight points behind them. We aren’t silly. That’s a massive gap and we would have kept fighting until the end, but we knew how much of a big one that would have been.
“So to get back to within two points of a rival who is above us, it’s massive and just gives us that confidence again, especially with a win on the road, which is massive.
"I’m buzzing for the fans, and it takes us into Saturday nicely now, before the break which if we can get another win and get out of the relegation zone.
“There is no point in winning if you don’t back it up, especially when we’re in the position we’re in.
"We know the Kenny and we know what it is, and opposition teams know what it is, but it’s up to us to give teams the full Kenny experience. It’s Middlesbrough on Saturday and we know it’ll be a tough game, because they are up there in the table.
“But before the international break it’s vital we get another three points and we’ve been building.
"The gaffer has spoken about it a lot, you can feel it, and we do all the stats every day in the meetings, and apart from the results, we know we’ve been building something.
"It’s just nice to see it pay off and to get the two wins [from the last three]. We are just looking forward to the weekend now. Tonight doesn’t count for anything if we don’t back it up at the weekend.”
