Hatters boss: Championship survival is in our own hands

With just two games left of the season, Luton boss Nathan Jones has urged his side to get the results they require to ensure Championship safety.

The Hatters head to fellow strugglers Hull City this afternoon in a classic six-pointer, with victory for Town seeing them leapfrog their third bottom hosts and climb above the dotted line in the process.

That s because fourth bottom Charlton Athletic host Wigan Athletic, who although in 13th place, will be deducted 12 points at the end of the season due to entering administration, which currently puts them level with both Luton and Hull.

Another victory over a Blackburn Rovers side with nothing to play on Wednesday would then make absolutely sure of second tier survival for the Hatters, something Jones would have snapped your hand off for when the season resumed with his side six points from safety.

He said: “We’ve given ourselves a chance and what we’ve got to do is make sure that chance becomes a real tangible reality.

“I’m very confident. We’ve got to get results, which if you get results, even though we’re in the bottom three, if you get results, you stay up, and that’s all it is, so it is technically in your hands.

“It's not like you can get results and others can do the same as well, that won’t happen, so if we get the results that we believe we need, we will stay up.

“It wasn’t the be-all and end-all to get out (of the relegation zone) when there were still games to go, but now we want to be closer.

“There’s only two games to go, lots can and will happen in these games.

"What we’ve got to make sure is we come out of the weekend in good shape, leading us into a game where, if someone told you we’ve got to try and beat Blackburn to stay in the league, I think there’d be a lot of people who would’ve taken that, especially six or five games ago.”

Town will know exactly what they need to do this afternoon, with the Charlton v Wigan match starting at 12.30pm, before their 3pm kick-off at the KCOM Stadium.

Whether that is a bonus for the visitors, Jones continued: “It could be, but you just never know how it can affect people psychologically.

“We have to make sure the players are concentrating on us and us getting a result because if we get results, we will stay up.

“If we don’t then we’re relying on things to happen and with our goal difference, it’s a tough thing to do, so we have to get results.

"If we do that, we will stay up so let’s just concentrate on that and then whatever happens elsewhere will happen.”

One aspect that is hindering Town massively is their goal difference, which at -30, having been breached 80 times so far this term, is the worst in the division, and well below both Charlton (-11) and Wigan (+1).

Jones added: “It’s an extra point, effectively, so it is tough but there’s nothing we can do about it.

"We’ve had to adjust our play slightly, and so on, but because of the Reading game (5-0 defeat) we’re in a minus goal difference (since he took over), but it’s only one or two because we’ve obviously won games.

“What we’ve got to make sure is that it doesn’t become a factor after 46 games, that’s what we have to plan for.”