Bloomfield praises Guyana star for heeding his advice to net first Luton goal

Luton boss Matt Bloomfield was happy to see wingback Izzy Jones heed his advice and arrive on cue to finish off the perfect ‘team goal’ during Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Leeds United.

The January transfer window signing from Middlesbrough was starting his seventh game out of eight for Town after missing last weekend’s 1-0 victory at Hull City due to an injury picked up on international duty with Guyana. It was while being away with the Golden Jaguars that he became the first Hatters player to net a hat-trick while representing his country, scoring all three in a 3-2 Gold Cup qualifying success over Guatemala.

He completed his trio when making a run to the back post to find the net from close range, which was something Bloomfield had wanted him to add to his game when returning to Kenilworth Road. The 25-year-old was able to do just that too with 15 minutes on the clock after Liam Walsh won the ball back and sent Elijah Adebayo powering forward, the overlapping Jordan Clark eventually appearing to his left.

He held up possession long enough for an unmarked and unnoticed Jones to ghost in at the far post and clinically volley past Karl Darlow to open his account for the club. Speaking afterwards, Bloomfield said: “I had mentioned that to him. I want him there at the back post getting those tap-ins. He got one for Guyana and it’s nice for him to get one for us.

"The goal was really good, as we know when teams get in our block that we want to be aggressive in those moments. Walshy’s tenacious and turns the ball over, Eli carries us up the pitch, it’s just a real good team goal. There’s lots to like about it, out of possession to start off that turns us in possession and then that bit of quality at the top end of the pitch with Clicker joining with Eli, so a real good team goal and Izzy getting the final touch is really pleasing.

“It was the type of chance that we do really want to create, that tap-in chance at the far post. We do want to create more of those chances, high xG chances for our forward players and wingbacks. We had probably more chances against Middlesbrough and didn’t take any, but clinical in that moment and got ourselves ahead which I think we deserved at that point.”

The fact that it was Jones who was on target meant it proved to be right call by Bloomfield to bring Jones back into the side as the one change from last weekend’s 1-0 success at the Tigers, with Reece Burke dropping to the bench, and the ex-Boro attacker getting the nod over Tahith Chong as well. He added: “I thought Burkey and Chongy both did really well last weekend at Hull, but at home, Izzy being that winger-type wingback, it really felt like he could give us that impetus. He’s trained really well this week. It’s not easy to leave out Burkey as he’s a proper player, but it felt like the right decision to make.”