Jones unhappy with Hatters' slack defending

After keeping two clean sheets in his first two games in charge, Luton were breached just before the hour mark when former Magpies defender Alan Sheehan diverted a cross into his own net.

On the opening goal, Jones felt it should have been avoided earlier, as he said: “That’s just unfortunate, because they’ve got in down the side from us being slack defensively and then that’s just last ditch.

“It’s coming across the box, he’s trying to defend it, that’s just a little bit unfortunate, but before that we could have been better.

“They talked about their could have been a foul in the lead-up, I don’t think there was a foul, I think he was slightly more aggressive than our lad.

“Then the full back has run and delivered a cross that we’re disappointed with.”

The killer second goal with 20 minutes to go saw experienced striker Jon Stead run right through the heart of Hatters’ defence, and with keeper Elliot Justham slow off his line, slotted through his legs.

Jones continued: “He probably shouldn’t have come really, but as I said, in terms of we’ve given away on the edge our box and they’ve broken on us.

“We know that they would come and play on the counter, so we’re disappointed with the goals we’ve conceded.

“But we’ve got to be better than that. If we want to get better, if we want to arrive where we want to be, we’ve got to be better than that which is one thing we’ve got to put right.”

Jones didn’t place any blame on Justham though for his part in the second, with the keeper chosen in place of Mark Tyler, who was on the bench after recovering from a back injury.

He added: “I thought maybe he had a little bit an error of judgement on the second goal, but apart from that he’s been excellent.

“He made some fine saves, what we’ve asked him to do, he’s done, his presence in there and Elliot’s a real one for the future.

“Tyler’s a very experienced player, he’s done very well for the club. He got injured after eight minutes of my first game and Elliot came in and did fantastically well. He kept two clean sheets, so there’s no issue there.”