Hatters chief points to a difference in finishing as Luton are beaten by Cardiff

Luton boss Nathan Jones pointed to the difference in finishing between his side and Cardiff City after the Bluebirds left Kenilworth Road with a 2-0 win last night.

During the first half, Town created the most clear-cut chances, with James Collins putting a header wide from close range, with Danny Hylton also glancing an effort off target, with the visitors only real attempt seeing Will Vaulks denied by keeper Simon Sluga from a well-worked set-piece.

After the break though, Cardiff then took the initiative, Liverpool midfielder Harry Wilson scoring an exquisite opener from outside of the box, before Vaulks was left unmarked to volley home from a corner.

Town had opportunities to make a game of it, but unlike City, they couldn’t hit the target, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu hammering one powerful drive inches past the post, but then slicing another far more presentable chance off target from Collins' lay-off when he had to make it 2-1.

Harry Cornick also had a late attempt deflected behind, as Jones said: “That’s what we’re saying, that’s the difference.

“Harry Wilson puts it in, Vaulks controls his shot, it goes straight through, we don’t quite do that.

“We can always say about certain things, but we have to show more quality if we want win games as that’s the level we’re competing at, so if we want to beat teams like this then we have to show more quality.

“We need to be better, first one (Cardiff goal) definitely, second one we’ve actually won the header, but they’ve got an overload on the edge of the box and it’s a good strike.

“We’ve had opportunities on the edge of the box but haven't quite shown the composure that they did and the quality that they did, so that’s the way it is.”

Collins' opportunity when it came from Tom Lockyer’s inviting right wing cross saw the forward unable to find the net, as he looked concerned about potentially colliding with keeper Dillon Phillips and the post.

It means that he has just one in his last 12 outings, and when asked if he was lacking in confidence, having buried chances like that during his prolific spells in League One and Two, Jones continued: “You’ll have to ask him, it’s a chance that at this level we’ve got to take those because they’re difficult games.

“It could be confidence, but at times, he’s not having masses of chances like he was coming up the leagues, so that’s the difficult thing.

"You’ve just got to take them when you can, we know that.

"We’ve had a lot of opportunities and controlled the game.

"You’re never in total control of the game because they play at their tempo, they go back to front, then when it goes out, they put it in your box.

"It’s a real difficult team, it reminds me of Wycombe back in the day, in terms of you have to generate the tempo and I felt we did that.

"We were brave in our possession, it’s just we lacked the killer instinct in the final third, then the first goal was always going to be vital and I’m really disappointed with how we conceded it."