Luton chief demands discipline is spot on at Wycombe

Luton boss Nathan Jones has demanded his side maintain their discipline against Wycombe Wanderers this afternoon.
Hatters boss Nathan JonesHatters boss Nathan Jones
Hatters boss Nathan Jones

The Hatters were held to a 1-1 draw last season, with Johnny Mullins sent off late on as Adebayo Akinfenwa took advantage of the numerical advantage to level the scores.

Town picked up their first red card of the campaign last weekend, when Scott Cuthbert was dismissed, allowing Swindon to romp to a 3-0 victory, as Jones said: “Last year we played very well for 80-odd minutes and then an incident happened and we couldn’t hold on for the win.

“We drew the game and that’s a little bit of discipline.

“One thing we’ve talked about this week is discipline and reiterating that. We’ll speak about it again, because we can’t allow that to affect us this year in any kind of way, and it has so far.

"We’ve had lapses of discipline in certain ways and that can’t creep into it. We’ve got a decent record against them, but they’re keenly contested games and we you know when you come up against Gareth’s sides you’re in for a difficult afternoon and they’ll be no different on the weekend."

The hosts have made a decent start to the season once more, with three wins, three draws and just one defeat, to sit one place and one point above the Hatters.

On the job boss Gareth Ainsworth has done, Jones continued: "Every year after year he produces sides that are at the higher end of the league and are challenging and whatever happens, whoever he brings in, what you can guarantee is that he has sides that are very very competitive.

"They work hard and put pressure on you and are positive sides, so fair play to Gareth. That’s the job he does, regardless of anything else that goes on he always produce those.”

After starting with a stunning 8-2 win over Yeovil, Hatters have stuttered a little of late, taking just five points from five games until Port Vale were beaten 2-0 on Tuesday night.

It put them to ninth in the table, already eight points behind leaders Exeter City, but when asked if he was disappointed by Luton’s position, Jones continued: “Maybe, but not many things are won in September and a lot will change in the season.

“What we have to do is make sure we’re in touch. We don’t want the gap to grow and because we are Luton, there are expectations, but we can’t affect that.

“We have our own expectations which are no lower than what any other human being would have on this planet for where Luton should be.

"So we’re going to just make sure we’re in a god place and we stay in a good place for long periods of the season and then hopefully finish where we want to do.

The boss insists his side have the belief to ensure they reach their target of promotion this year too, saying: "I want them to believe, I believe in them, I bought them to the club, I believed they were the best we could recruit and that’s what we’ve tried to do.

“I want them to be confident and it’s early days here. There’ll come times where we have to pick up a few runs, they would have been confident after the first game, but we had a big week in terms of Ipswich and Barnet afterwards.

"Once the season really settles down and they find their feet and find their rhythm, we’re a little bit more settled and they’ve all got their feet under the table, then we might see that, that kind of confidence coming out.

"At the minute it’s about everyone gelling, everyone getting to grips with the club, the system and how we train, and so on.

"Once we do that, it’s a long season, there’s 39 games to go, there's a lot of twists and turns along the way and we’ve got to make sure we’re right there."

Meanwhile, Town are expected to be roared on by another huge away following this afternoon, as Jones added: “We expect that. If it's within 48 hours of Luton, then we expect a big crowd.

"It’s a great occasion when you play these, your Cambridge's and your Stevenage's, as they’re local-ish.

"We take huge followings, the away end last year was chocka and I’ve been there twice as an away manager with Luton and there’s been wonderful, wonderful away following

"We expect that again, not that we take it for granted, but we expect that."