Luton boss hopes his side can discover their goal-den touch

Town boss Nathan Jones is determined to make his side a force to be reckoned with in front of goal this season.
Dan Potts celebrates his goal at Bedford last weekendDan Potts celebrates his goal at Bedford last weekend
Dan Potts celebrates his goal at Bedford last weekend

The Hatters struggled to find their shooting boots for lengthy periods during last season, scoring just 63 league goals, including a mere 27 on home soil.

However, after hitting nine in their pre-season win over Bedford Town on Saturday, Jones admitted it was an area he had been specifically targeting improvement in, after signing the likes of Oxford striker Danny Hylton and Walsall’s Jordan Cook.

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The Hatters chief said: “I think we’ve brought in players that we hope will add goals in terms of the calibre we’ve brought in.

“The people we already had here anyway have goals in them, but if you want to win games you have to score goals.

“It’s important as well the clean sheet, so not just nine we’ve scored, but we’ve kept a clean sheet as well.

“It takes concentration at all times, because anyone can nick a goal and that’s the kind of thing we’ve got to have.

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“Pure concentration, pure desire to do well, to defend, work hard and we had that.

“It was very pleasing, as the goals really put an icing on the cake, but the cake was well made.”

Midfielder Cameron McGeehan was one of only two players to make it into double figures last season, scoring 14 times, with Jack Marriott on 16.

The pair were responsible for almost half the club’s goals and McGeehan knows other players need to chip in.

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After seeing Marriott bag an 11-minute hat-trick during Saturday’s triumph, he said: “Everyone’s come back sharp, everyone’s pushing each other and it’s been good.

“Jack’s been doing well, hopefully he can get that tally or even more this year.

“Hylts (Danny Hylton) will probably score and we all need to chip in.

“We need to score more goals than we did last year as we didn’t really score enough.

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“It was only really me and Jack who scored anything close to reasonable stats, so hopefully next season we can get more goals.”

Defender Dan Potts believes it’s hard work on the training ground that will make the team more prolific as, after he netted the first goal at the weekend, he said: “We set our stall out early doors, we knew in training, knew how we were going to approach the game and I think the lads emulated that perfectly.

“We followed it all throughout the half and even in the second half as well, when we changed the complete team, it was the same again. It just goes to show that everyone’s tuning in on the training pitch and buying into what we want to do.”

Although winning by such margins, even in a friendly, will increase some supporters’ hopes for the season ahead, Jones is confident they can meet that ambition.

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He added: “We want relative expectation, we want to do well this year, I wouldn’t have come to the club if I didn’t want to do well.

“The club have invested a lot of money in a lot of things, since I’ve come here, not just me, the infrastructure of the club is improving all the time.

“Gary (Sweet) and the board have done wonderful things, so yes, we want to do well, want to keep the club moving forward.

“The public figure of the club is the team and we want to make sure the team carries the flag. It’s only a start, we can’t get carried away, but we like winning, we want to do it quite a lot.”