Jones rues decision to rest strikers

Hatters boss Nathan Jones conceded he may think again before changing his striking options around so drastically after the 2-0 defeat to Crawley this afternoon.
Luton boss Nathan JonesLuton boss Nathan Jones
Luton boss Nathan Jones

With Danny Hylton still suffering the affects of his broken cheekbone, Jones opted to drop Town’s leading scorer to the bench, where he was surprisingly joined by strike partner Jack Marriott, plus the dynamic Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu.

That meant first league starts of the season for Josh McQuoid and Isaac Vassell in a newlook front-line, while Jonathan Smith was in too, with Town not seriously testing home keeper Glenn Morris until the 85th minute, when all three had since been replaced.

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Jones said: “I’ve been a victim of my own downfall really because I’ve tried to look after a few people and I’ve tried to freshen stuff up because we’ve got a good, competitive squad.

“It’s strong all the way through, but maybe that’s something that I won’t be doing too readily.

“We’ll have to re-evaluate the squad because it’s a big game next week (against Doncaster) and I want to win again.”

Both Marriott and Hylton were introduced into the fray midway through the second half with Luton trailing 1-0, and on the decision to drop his strike pairing, Jones continued: “Danny has had to wear a mask. He hasn’t trained since Thursday because he’s got a crack (in his cheekbone), so we’ve had to look after him. “I didn’t want to use him, if I’m honest, because he has that crack. And the way he is, the way he plays and trains, he’s always liable to do something, so I didn’t really want to use him.

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“If Danny hadn’t had a cracked thing then we wouldn’t have, so it’s not like a major decision, and we have to make sure that everyone is up to speed, so that if we do miss one of them for any length of time then we have replacements who are ready to go in.

“It is (Marriott being rested). They’re a partnership together, those two.

“Isaac would have probably replaced [Hylton] and then Josh has been chomping at the bit to play, so you’ve got to keep them involved and keep everyone interested.”

When asked how he thought both Vassell and McQuoid had done as a pairing, Jones added: “The other two (Vassell and McQuoid) have been flying, so I thought I’d give them an opportunity.

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“They’ve been doing well in training. I’m not going to gauge them just on today. It didn’t quite come off but they worked hard.

“They looked a certain type of threat but it looks bad because obviously you’ve replaced probably the top two in the league, for me.”