Hatters chief used 'teams like Luton' jibe to motivate his players during half time against rivals Watford

Hatters boss Nathan Jones revealed he used the 'teams like Luton' jibe to help motivate his players during the interval of Saturday's 1-0 win over Watford.

On a number of occasions this season, supporters from opposing sides have taken to social media to state their club shouldn't be losing to the Hatters, especially after Town have emerged triumphant from the fixture.

With 16 victories under their belt now, already safe from relegation and aiming for a top 10 finish, Jones admitted he brought the saying up when speaking to his squad in the dressing room following an goalless opening 45 minutes that had seen the hosts produce an utterly dominant display.

It worked a treat too, the Hatters players coming out for the second half and going on to pick up the victory courtesy of James Collins' penalty with 12 minutes to go.

Jones said: “These players have been told last year they weren’t good enough for the Championship when they were bottom.

“We haven’t signed massive amounts of players and it’s the same group now going after teams, pressing them high, stopping them playing, and these are international players, these are high Premier League players and we’re stopping these playing and going after them.

“Then we’re controlling the ball and dominating, creating more chances, more shots, so it’s a wonderful performance.

“At half time, I’ll tell you exactly what my message was.

"Teams are saying we should be beating teams like Luton, now I know, judging by the first half performance, I know the level we’re at, because we’re at a really good level.

“Now (I told them) do you want a big distance between those teams who have spoken badly about you?

"As those teams who have spoken badly have said we should be beating teams like Luton, Luton will be down the bottom, so they might be rivals of ours, we’re not.

“Now we’ve put distance on them, they took that on board and second half we were magnificent.

“We should have been further ahead, it should have been a far more comfortable game, credit to the players because it was a magnificent performance.”