Hatters boss has no regrets over selling Marriott to Peterborough

The forward has enjoyed a stunning start to life with the Posh, scoring 23 goals in 36 games, as he is top of the scoring charts for the division and the second leading English goalscorer behind Spurs and England striker Harry Kane this term.

Marriott was allowed to leave by Jones in the summer, who was unable to guarantee him regular first team football after signing James Collins and Elliot Lee.

On the frontman, who grabbed a double in the 3-1 FA Cup win at Aston Villa on Saturday, and could make his first return to Kenilworth Road when Luton face Peterborough in the Checkatrade Trophy tomorrow evening, Jones said: “He wouldn’t have played as much as he wanted to here, or we think he wouldn’t, all we can do is make decisions at the time, so there’s no regrets, why would I have regrets?

“We’re at the top of the league with the highest scorers in England, Man City might have nicked above us now after the other day, how many goalscorers can I keep happy?

“At the time, I couldn’t guarantee him that he was going to start, we had Danny Hylton and James Collins, who are pretty much the top two scorers in the division from the last three years.

“Then I had Isaac Vassell, who had gone above Jack, so when someone comes in and offers good money for your, at the time, fourth choice striker, you had to take it.

“That’s not to say that I didn’t try and persuade Jack to stay and be patient, but Jack said, ‘I think I’m better off going’.

“So that’s what happened and it has proved right for him and proved right for us, because we bought in others, they’ve impacted and it hasn’t taken away our goalscoring exploits.”

Jones didn’t think that Marriott, who bagged 28 goals in 91 matches during his two year stint at Kenilworth Road after joining from Ipswich Town needed to prove himself at his new club, adding: “It’s been wonderful for him and he’s really responded.

“He felt it was a good move for him and we did, because we let him go there and he’s kicked on.

“He’s done magnificently well, he’s played and they’ve put an arm round him, the thing with us was, we couldn’t guarantee him first team football.

“The players we’ve got, ours are in wonderful form themselves in terms of Hylton, Collins, we’ve got (Harry) Cornick who’s impacting and I’m not sure Jack would have had the patience of others.

“So that’s why we let him go, he’s not answering any critics or anything, as we didn’t let him go because we didn’t think he was good enough, but he’s really impressed at Peterborough.”