Hatters boss unlikely to repeat Pelly experiment

With Danny Hylton suspended for the recent trip to Hartlepool United, Jones thrust the former West Ham youngster alongside Jack Marriott during the 1-1 draw at Victoria Park.

Hylton is once again missing due to a ban on Saturday when the Stags visit Kenilworth Road, but when asked if he would use the midfielder in a striking berth, Jones said: “We’ll be a little bit more used to what you see this weekend though, rather than doing something a little bit of out of the box.

“We know what Pelly gives us in terms of a lot of potency on the pitch, it’s just we tried something, I’m not sure if it quite worked, but we’re not afraid to try things as we feel we’re that type of club and that type of group.

“It was something that we tried, we probably won’t do that Saturday, but he’s definitely in contention for one of the other positions.”

The Hatters boss knows Hylton’s absence will be keenly felt, as the summer signing is the club’s top scorer with eight goals so far, and has netted in his last three matches too.

However, Jones has his plans in place already, as he continued: “We know what we’re going to do, we’ve worked on it this week.

“Danny’s going to be a miss for us as he would be a miss for any team in this league and probably the league above in all honesty.

“But we’re going to have to cope, we’ve learned how to cope without him, as we had to do it before. We should have won the game up at Hartlepool, but we didn’t so we’re going to have to learn to cope without him or continue to cope without him for Saturday.

“It’s an opportunity, someone has to step up and however we go, whoever we pick in that position, we’re looking for the same level of performance we get from Hylts and that’s all we need really.”

It’s unlikely that Jones will drop Marriott to the bench as he had done against Crawley with Hylton struggling due to his cheekbone injury, as the boss added: “We’ve got no worries with Jack’s form. He’s gone a few without scoring, but that’s a personal thing for him.

“I’m happy with how he’s playing how he’s contributing and if others are scoring it’s not hindering the team at the minute as we are second or first top scorers in the league.

“So as long as he continues that and the performance level then the goals will come as he’s that type of player.”