Kioso loved his time at Cobblers, but admits relegation was 'hard to take'

'It was a lot different to being at Bolton, the playing style and in terms of the league you’re playing against better players than you played against at League Two.'
Peter Kioso.Peter Kioso.
Peter Kioso.

Luton Town defender Peter Kioso believes he is a better player for the time spent with Northampton last season.

The 21-year-old was a firm favourite with supporters at Bolton Wanderers during the first half of the season and was equally popular at Sixfields after switching clubs in January.

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The full-back played 21 times in all for the Cobblers, scoring three goals, and finished an impressive fifth in the Player of the Year vote.

“It was a little bit strange going from League Two Bolton to League One Northampton, a little bit different, but it was a new challenge,” Kioso told the Luton News. “I wanted to challenge myself again and show people that I’m capable of doing it in League One as well, that was my main reason for making that move.

“It was a lot different to being at Bolton, the playing style and in terms of the league, you’re playing against better players than you played against at League Two.

“But I’ll keep saying, it’s a new challenge and any challenge at first you might not get, but if you keep sticking at it, keep working at it, you’ll figure it out and be able to handle the challenge that’s put ahead of you.

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“The fans took me in as if I was one of their own, and the manager had faith in me by playing me every game, unless I was injured, and the players had faith in me as well.

Kioso.Kioso.
Kioso.

“I was able to concentrate on my football, and for me, that’s the best thing you can have as a footballer, when all you need to worry about is the football, you don’t need to worry about anything else.

“You know you have the backing of everybody around you, so that’s good for you.”

When asked if the standard in the third tier was noticeably different, he added: “There was a difference in terms of play and in terms of how certain players were playing, different wingers you’re going to go up against, skillful wingers.

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"But it is good for me to be able to say I can take the League Two challenge as my first challenge and then after that move up to take the League One challenge and I didn’t do too bad in both.

"So it’s just about moving on and taking the next challenge and making sure I do as good as I did in the last two.”

Despite eventually suffering relegation, Kioso believes being involved at the wrong end of the table can only help with his own development.

"In terms of relegation, it was unfortunate, it was hard to take, as I think we did quite well," he continued. "There were some games we should have won, there were some games we dropped points and can say we got ourselves into that situation.

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"It’s a learning curve and something you can use to know that every game is as important as each other, it doesn’t matter how early it is or how late is it.”

Kioso also passed 100 senior appearances during his time at the PTS Academy Stadium, adding: "To get my 100 games as a milestone, that was good, so for me it’s just about pushing on.

“For me, it’s always been about playing and trying to get as many appearances as I can to try and get as much experience as I can under my belt, especially when you're young.

"It’s the most important thing, getting experience of different places and different leagues."

Kioso is now fully fit and back in pre-season training with Luton after suffering a double hernia at the end of his time with the Cobblers.