Hatters chief readies his troops for a 'war' against Wycombe at Kenilworth Road

Luton chief doesn't expect Chairboys to be low on confidence this afternoon
Hatters boss Nathan JonesHatters boss Nathan Jones
Hatters boss Nathan Jones

Luton boss Nathan Jones is readying his players for a ‘war’ when they go into battle against Wycombe Wanderers at Kenilworth Road this afternoon.

The Chairboys have proved tough opponents for Town over the years in Bedfordshire, winning four of their previous seven visits, although just once since Jones himself took over.

Boss Gareth Ainsworth has instilled a particular brand of football among his players that is often tough for opposition supporters to watch, with his side looking to manage a game from the opening whistle, perfecting a number of time-wasting tactics.

However, the Town boss believes he has enough experience of such antics for his team to be able to cope, saying: "It’s always a tough game, we’ve had a similar trajectory to Wycombe, obviously slightly earlier than them but it’s always a really, really, really tough game against Wycombe.

"We know that and we are going to have to be at it.

"There is always a chance for three points available in a Championship game because anything can happen, but at no point are we looking at it saying this is going to be anything other than a war.

“We’ll be as prepared as we possibly can be.

"We have experience of Wycombe and of real battles, through all three leagues now and we’ll have watched their recent games, so we know what tests were going to come up against.

"We have a decent record against them, we’ve only lost once since I’ve been here in six or seven outings, and I hope that continues because it will be tough, tough game.

"The Championship games are tough game, against Wycombe it’s an even tougher game because of the rivalry we’ve had and it’s the next game."

Although the Chairboys have found life at their new level tough, losing all three of their opening matches, hammered 5-0 by Blackburn Rovers recently too, Jones didn’t think that would necessarily mean they turn up this afternoon with their morale bruised.

He continued: "I don’t know that they have got low confidence, results haven’t gone for them but I don’t know if they’re low on confidence.

"Gareth has a knack of getting that group to do things for him.

"Realistically, they probably went into post-lockdown as one of the out of form teams.

"They were sliding down, Peterborough were on their way up, but Gareth somehow rallied them, got them promoted against good sides, against a good Fleetwood side and a good Oxford side.

"So, I don’t know that they are low on confidence. Yes, results haven’t gone for them, but they’re in a new league, so we don’t know how they are.

"What we have to do is make sure that we are right at it, that we are the best version (of us), and if their best version of them is better than the best version of us and we attain that, then I’ll have no complaints.

"At the weekend, I’m not sure Watford were at their best and Luton were nowhere near their best and then the disappointment creeps in.

"But then you have to analyse that and see why, and we did, so we hope that we can rectify that this week.”

Town themselves found out just how big the step up was to the Championship last term, looking for long periods as if they would go straight back down to League One, until a dramatic improvement pre and post-lockdown kept them up with a final day win over Blackburn.

On the difference between the second and third tiers, Jones added: “It’s a big gulf, it’s a bigger difference than League Two to League One because we were confident if we recruited well in League Two, we would go straight through League One which we did.

"That’s not taking anything lightly but we felt that.

"When you come to the Championship, it’s a different animal, for me it’s possibly the sixth best league in the world, in Europe definitely.

"There is going to be quality, you’re going to get punished but sometimes it takes time to adapt.

"Gareth has done a wonderful job there, they have players that have probably not played at that level, similar to Luton, we’ve had a few.

"It takes time and what we have to make sure is they don’t adjust playing us.

"We’re only concerned with us and the start we’ve had and the start we want to continue, that’s all we can concentrate on.

"We know it will be a tough game because they always are but we will be well prepared.”