Hatters chief wants a derby that is 'different on every single level' to his last Watford trip with Luton

Hatters boss Nathan Jones wants to experience a derby day at Watford that is ‘different on every single level’ to his last visit to Vicarage Road back in September 2020.

Then, with no supporters present due to Covid rules, the visitors were beaten 1-0, Joao Pedro’s 35th minute goal enough to secure three points for the hosts.

It led Jones afterwards to state: “I thought it was a real lacklustre game, it’s probably the most lacklustre derby you could ever have seen.

"I don’t think anyone in the whole ground realised, including the players, that it was actually a derby, I’m just flabbergasted by the lacklustre performance really.”

However, Luton are now a world away from the kind of team who took the field that day, following up a season in which they reached the play-offs, by sitting fifth this term, unbeaten in seven, suffering just one defeat in seven on the road, having won at Norwich, Cardiff and Swansea already.

Sitting four points above their opponents and with just under 2,000 supporters roaring the visitors on, in what is their first trip to Hertfordshire since 2006, Jones, who only has Sonny Bradley, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Luke Berry and Harry Cornick left from the XI that started on the day, said: “I’d like it to be different on every single level.

“We were passive on the day, we’re a different animal now.

"We’re not a different group, as we had a good group then, but now we’re really, really athletic and potent.

“We’re in a better place than what we were when we went there.

"We were just waiting for Watford to punch us on the chin, we had a glorious opportunity with James Collins in the first half that we should have capitalised on and we didn’t.

“We never really looked like a side that could really win the game and I envisage it being different this year.”

Luton did triumph in the home game against their fiercest rivals in April, when Collins came off the bench to write his name into Town folklore by scoring from the penalty spot with his first touch after keeper Daniel Bachmann felled Elijah Adebayo in the box.

Asked if there was anything he could take from either game, despite the vastly different circumstances they were played in, Jones said: “We know it’s going to be a tough game.

"Both games were 1-0, so it shows that the rivalry is tight and even though they got promoted that year, we were right in both games, because the margins were so small.

“We’re better now, we have a better team, a better squad, more aggressive, more potent so I’m hoping that the away result is different from two years ago.”

The fact that Town are heading to the Hornets on a par with their hosts and actually looking in better shape for a promotion challenge at this stage of the season is just another example of they steps they’ve taken in recent years according to Jones, who knows full well just what the game will mean to supporters.

He added: “It is a great game.

"I remember when I was here as a player, I didn’t play in it, but Watford were in the same division and they were real tough games.

"In recent history, Watford have been in a higher division than us, but we go into the fixture ahead of them in the league and in a wonderful place.

"It shows how far we’ve come and these are the kind of fixtures we’ve always wanted.

"Going to Norwich, away at Carrow Road against a wonderful ex-Premier League side, that is what we want.

"A full home end at home to QPR, that is what we want.

"Playing against these wonderful clubs because we’re a wonderful club ourselves.

"To have this derby to give the fans something really exciting, because it is exciting, then this is what we want.

"We have had to graft to get there, I know not everyone wants to hear it but Watford have been a Premier League side, a Championship side so we haven’t been able to get in amongst them until recent years.

"But now we’re really excited by this fixture. “