Hatters chief didn't want to risk a fine by debating Pearson's 'legitimate' goal against Leeds

Matty Pearson wheels away before his goal was disallowed for offside

The Luton chief saw his centre half prod home from close range shortly after James Collins had drawn Hatters level with the Whites, for a goal that would have seen the hosts move 2-1 in front with under half an hour to go.

However, a late linesman’s flag was to cut short the celebrations, not before an unaware Pearson had got his kneeslide towards the home terraces all wrong, although the incident has since been shown on social media to have been onside, with supporters making their feelings of frustration known.

On the incident, Jones said: “If I stand up and say something, what’s going to happen? I’m going to get fined, that’s what happens, if I mention the officials.

“It’s not correct, you can’t gamble on something like that.

"We scored a legitimate goal that put us 2-1 up and in the ascendancy and that’s where we are at the minute.

"That's why (against Charlton), we have to earn everything we get over 94 minutes, don't rely on the referee, don't rely on linesmen, anybody else, just our performance, so I'd rather focus in on that."

Jones admitted he had shown the players the goal was onside and that they had done enough to score twice against a side that are one of the favourites for promotion this term.

He added: "You still have to be realistic, you still have to talk about two goals we conceded, could we possibly stop them?

"You still have to talk about a goal that wasn’t offside, that I need to stick up for little Luton.

"Maybe there's a decision to be made there where it’s 50/50 and Leeds is a big football club to give a decision like that against.

"The facts are he wasn’t offside, the players need to know that, they need to know that the performance was good enough for a result against the best side in the league.

"I think you take a lot of confidence and a lot of heart from that."