Bradley hails calming influence from Luton boss Jones ahead of improved second half showing against Cherries

Luton captain Sonny Bradley gave credit to manager Nathan Jones for the manner in which he calmed the dressing room down at half time during the 1-0 win at Bournemouth on Saturday.

Town had found themselves with an extra man from midway through the first period, when Colombian international midfielder Jefferson Lerma was dismissed for what referee Darren Webb deemed was an elbow on Tom Lockyer.

However, the visitors weren't making the most of their numerical advantage, Bournemouth going closest through Josh King, the striker forcing Simon Sluga into a save at his near post, with Town unable to significantly test Asmir Begovic.

Once Town returned after their 15 minute break they looked a different side though, taking the the game to their opponents from the early stages, creating four excellent chances.

First, Glen Rea’s effort was brilliantly saved by Begovic, the rebound hitting a home defender and going inches wide.

Then Luke Berry was denied by the keeper’s legs, the Bosnian also clawing out Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s attempt, with James Collins glancing wide as well.

Dewsbury-Hall then did break the deadlock on 67 minutes with what turned out to be the winner, as Bradley said: “It was a case of, we were all quite hyped up going into the dressing room, we all had something to say, which I don’t mind, I’d rather it that way than the boys be quiet.

"We all had our say, what we needed to do, but the gaffer played the biggest part.

"He came in and calmed us all down, he told us what we were going to do, tweaked it slightly and the gaffer’s the brains of the operation.

"We listened to him and the first 10 minutes of the second half, we could have had two goals.

"Glen’s (Rea) had a good chance, it’s bounced back and I don’t know how it hasn’t gone in.

"They've got a Premier League goalkeeper though, he's pulled off a couple of good saves but from there I think we grew into the game, showed plenty of confidence and I felt like the goal was coming."

After Lerma saw red for what Cherries boss Jason Tindall labelled an 'outrageous' decision, Jones thought the Cherries reacted better to going down to 10 men in the remaining 20 minutes of the first half.

When asked just what he told the players at half time that led to them going on to secure a terrific three points, the Town chief said: "I thought the sending off rocked us more than it did them.

"I think it galvanised them, they just went after us and were in the ascendancy and we needed half time to come.

"When it did come, we just said, 'hey calm down you know, we've got an extra man' and that’s a bonus whoever you’re playing.

"So we did, we calmed down, changed the shape a little bit, got a bit higher, closer to them, and had some real good chances.

"Berry’s chance is the best chance of the game, point blank and normally I would have put my life on him scoring, but Asmir made a wonderful, wonderful save and we think, 'is it going to come?'

"We did miss a few chances, Glen Rea, but we felt it was coming in that time.

"Then you’ve got to soak up a little bit of pressure as there's probably about 200 million on the pitch and about 1.5 of that was us.”