Luton boss wants superb away form to continue at Cumbrians

Hatters boss Nathan Jones knows it will be a tough ask for his side to continue their marvellous away form at Carlisle United this evening.
Hatters boss Nathan JonesHatters boss Nathan Jones
Hatters boss Nathan Jones

The Luton chief has led Town to six wins from eight games since being appointed, as opposed to just three victories in nine matches at Kenilworth Road.

On tonight’s visit to a side who sit two places and two points above Luton, he said: “They’re slightly ahead of us in the league, but it’s a game that we’re looking forward to, a game we’re going to dust ourselves down for and prepare for.

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“We know that they’re a good test, a good team, I’ve watched them a few times.

“My first week I got there they were playing Yeovil, so I got to see them. They’re a team I know, they are good footballing side, have good players and he’s doing work up there Keith Curle, great work.

“So it will be a difficult, difficult game, but we’re in good form. I wish I could erase the block of three games we had, but I can’t, so apart from that, I think we’ve made good progress and we’re in a good place.”

On Curle, who has turned United from a side battling relegation to play-off contenders this term, Jones continued: “I knew him as a player and a wonderful player he was.

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“He’s been at Carlisle and made great strides there, implemented his own way of playing there.

“I don’t know him personally, but he wants to play the right way and having watched many of the games prior and preparing for this one, we know it will be a difficult game.”

Jones felt his side’s form on the road could have been even better too, with his disappointment at the poor results against AFC Wimbledon and Barnet clear to see, as he said: “I wish it was better as think it could have been better.

“Apart from the Wimbledon game where I was naive, my naivety of the league, we’ve really made good progress away from home.

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“I think we’ve good made progress all round, but our away form has been been especially good.

“We’ve worked hard, we graft. Sometimes we have to grind out a result and we’re not as fluent as we’d like to be, some days we are fluent and we really deserve the win, but at this stage of the season we still want to make progress, and it’s results that matter.”

Jones was also not complaining that Luton’s longest trip of the season was being made on a Tuesday night either, saying: “They’ve relaid the pitch, so that will be nice. The club will look after us in terms of our travel plans, we’ll have a game of cards on the way up, it’s a big journey, but a game we need at this point in time.

“I hope they do take us lightly and think this it’s a good time to play Luton and hopefully we can come back with a very good result which sets us up again for some home games.”

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Midfielder Alex Lawless wasn’t fussed by the distance either, adding: “We’re just used to it, all the lads have done long journeys before. You know it’s coming up, those long ones, there’s no excuses in anything like that.

“Today (beating Oxford) will just want to make us win even more, going all that way, so we’ll be up for it.”