Cornick confident Hatters can achieve points target set by Jones

With 20 games to go, Jones demanded that his struggling team need to acquire a point a game at the very least to give them any chance of staying up.

History is against the Hatters to do so though, with no team since Preston North End in the 2007-08 campaign avoiding the drop up after being bottom of the Championship with 26 fixtures completed.

Then, the Deepdale side went on a superb run, winning nine and drawing five of their last 20 matches, with six defeats, to take 32 points and end up 15th, some four points clear of the drop zone.

On the target given to them, Cornick said: "People do it all the time, I remember when Nathan Jones was here he used to do monthly targets and how many points you should pick up in the month.

"Every manager has their different style, I think there’s usually a points target you need to stay in the division and he’s put one out for us to achieve.

"I’m sure we can achieve that, it’s not an impossible target for us to try and get to and I’m sure we can do that."

Town will need to do so the lowest points tally on the board at this stage of the season too, as previous seasons has seen no side who finished fourth bottom on less than 24 points, Rotherham and Barnsley in the 2015-16 and 2012-13 campaigns respectively.

Defender Donervon Daniels didn't mind a target set for the players though, as he looks to make his league debut for the Hatters against Birmingham this afternoon.

Speaking after the FA Cup defeat at Bournemouth last weekend, he said: “This is the first I’ve heard of it personally.

"But I feel like everybody as individuals, when you aspire to be the best, you set yourself targets, set yourself goals.

"In the group situation where you're fighting for survival, we’ll set collective group goals and if that’s what the gaffer’s said, then that’s what we've got to go and achieve.”

Town have found it tough going in the Championship so far, with just six wins and 17 defeats from their 26 matches, with three draws.

On the step-up in quality, Cornick said: "We knew what we were coming into, when you come up from League Two to League One it’s not as much of a jump, but the League One to Championship jump is massive.

"There are some massive clubs in the league which we have to compete up against and they’re not bigger clubs, but they’ve got bigger wage bills and bigger players who’ve played in the Premier League.

"We’re coming into it, we need to show them no respect and we’ve got to believe we can turn over any team.

"We’ve shown that this year and we’ve gone toe-to-toe with some of the best teams in the league.

"We’re getting points against them, so we need to keep believing we can stay up and keep playing for the points."

Another goal for Cornick against the Blues this afternoon would take him to seven for the campaign, one off his previous best managed twice before in his career, an impressive achievement considering this his first taste of the Championship.

He added: "Personally, I think I’ve had an all right campaign so far.

"I've scored six which is a good tally for me, but I know I can do better than that and I think all the boys know they can keep improving and keep getting better.

"Each game we play we’re getting better and getting acclimatised to the league, but we’re half way through the season now, we can’t keep saying that every game we come up against.

"So we need to keep putting in the performances and getting the points."