Bradley not too concerned by Luton's poor start despite labelling Robins defeat as a 'wake-up call'

Although Luton skipper Sonny Bradley wasn’t getting too downbeat over his side’s disappointing start to the campaign, he admitted last night’s 2-0 defeat at Bristol City will definitely serve as a ‘wake-up’ call to his side.

Following a campaign in which the Hatters reached the Championship play-off places, expectancy was raised amongst many going into the new term, especially after a summer of increased transfer activity at Kenilworth Road.

However, it has been anything but, as back-to-back draws with Birmingham and Burnley have now been followed with a 1-0 defeat to Preston and a bitterly poor 2-0 reverse at Ashton Gate, leaving Nathan Jones’ side sitting second bottom with just two points to their name.

Bradley was staying positive though, saying: “I don’t see it as much of a concern to be honest, you look at the last three games before this in the league, we’ve performed to a high standard.

“Burnley we conceded one half chance and they’ve scored, Preston, a couple of balls in the box and they've scored a goal, then the first game against Birmingham, we should have won that, so we’re not getting carried away.

“We’re not getting too concerned, but tonight is a wake-up call that if you don't perform to the standard that you've set then it’s going to be hard to pick up points.

"We performed probably worse than that last season and won games, so it’s not time now to panic.

"Of course after four games we think we should have more points, we’re not happy with where we are in the table, but we’ve just got to keep on doing what we’re doing and that’s giving 100 per cent.

"I’m sure the coaching staff and manager will do exactly the same, that’s a given, we know they will and if we all stick together, continue to work hard, I think the results will come.”

Boss Nathan Jones slammed Town’s first half performance in particular as ‘unacceptable’ criticising the defending and body language on display from his side, as they were breached with significant ease by a home team who were also without a league victory going into the match.

Bradley was part of the back-line that was pulled apart often and he couldn’t offer a reason as to why that was, continuing: “I can’t put a finger on it or give too much of an explanation of what happened in that first half

“The gaffer has probably touched on it, that’s not good enough for this football club.

"The way we’ve conceded the goals, it’s pretty sloppy and then, we just couldn’t to grips with their midfield, we couldn’t seem to hold the ball up top and there was too much space in between the lines.

"We normally pride ourselves on doing the basics well, but tonight, especially in the first half we didn’t do that.

"Then going forward, when they went down to 10 men, I don’t think we’ve created enough clear-cut chances and then the chances that we do have, Jordan’s (Clark) had a chance on edge of the box, one’s fell to Gabe (Osho), we’re just lashing at things and we’re not showing that composure and ruthlessness at the minute, and it’s costing us.

“We’ll have to look back at it and really dissect, find out what was going on.

"We’ve made a few changes, a couple of new boys have come in and we’ve found it hard.

"We’ve come up against a team that are well drilled, well structured and we just couldn't get to grips with it.

"When the ball is in their final third, we haven’t been clinical, we’ve had enough set-pieces again and not capitalised from set-pieces.

"We thought that would be a real opportunity for us tonight, looking at their size compared to our size, but it’s not good enough and it’s cost us.

"For the first three games we’ve performed to a decent standard though and just not got the goals.

"Tonight’s just a wake-up call and a reminder that if we fall below those standards then it’s going to be very difficult to pick up points.”

Ahead of the fixture there was no real sign for Bradley that the Hatters were about to deliver a performance that was well below their usual high standards from last season, as he added: “We prepared as well we could have, we were up here last night, we had enough rest, I feel like we came in the game full of energy.

"The warm-up was sharp, the way we were talking in the dressing room, I felt like everyone was bang up for it, but when you conceded early on like that, it almost deflates it.

"Then we’re reactive in everything we do, we need to change shape, because things aren't quite working out all of a sudden.

"The gameplan is out of the window a little bit, everything seems to be a little bit off the cuff as certain things happened.

"A few refereeing decisions slowed the game down a little bit, but there’s no real excuse, it wasn't good enough and we need a reaction.”