Hatters chief won't let his players make the same mistakes again after labelling Baggies defeat a 'wake-up call'

Luton boss Nathan Jones didn’t pull any punches in his assessment of this afternoon’s 3-2 defeat at West Bromwich Albion, labelling it a ‘wake-up call’ for his side.

The visitors fell behind after just five minutes, Kal Naismith heading Darnell Furlong’s long throw into his own net, before the second arrived on 36, Callum Robinson nodding home after Alex Mowatt’s corner caused havoc.

A defensive error then lead to Karlan Grant’s 66th minute third, as although Harry Cornick and Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu were on target to set up a grandstand finale, the hosts held on during 16 minutes of extra time caused by Jordan Clark's nasty head injury.

A frustrated Jones said: “We caused our own problems.

“West Brom are a front-footed side, they're a big side, they're an aggressive side, but if you don’t head it in your own box, if you don’t do the basics well, you’re going to concede chances and that’s all it was today.

“They didn't have to carve us open, didn’t play little triangles, didn’t play through us, didn’t cause us problems, they didn’t, what they did was play on the front foot, threw it in our box and we couldn't head it.

“We gave them a helping hand with the first goal.

"The first goal was the first time they put a ball in our box, our own centre half heads it in his own net, that’s not good enough and that’s what we can’t have happen.

“Our right back pulling out of a challenge for the third goal, and that’s not good enough, we can't do that.

“If you don’t do the basics right at this level you get punished and that’s what we did.

“Then when we started doing the basics right, we became more front footed, we looked a different side, that’s the side we came here to be.

“But that was a wake-up call as I will not let than happen again, I will not let those players do that again and whatever it takes, because for 70 minutes we were poor, the last 20 we were us, but for the first 70 we weren’t.

“If you don't head the ball in your own box you will concede chances.

"You can play in La Liga, you can play in the Premier League you can play in the J League, if you can't head the ball and you get bullied then you're going to concede chances.”

Jones was doubly annoyed as he had warned his players about just what to expect when coming to the Hawthorns to take on a Baggies side managed by former Barnsley boss Valerien Ismael.

He added: “If you come to West Brom, who are renowned, and let's be honest, everyone knew what Barnsley did last year, everyone knows that when the manager comes, the way he plays, the results he gets by doing that and fair play to them.

“All we had to do today was be a little bit braver, a little bit more front footed, but we didn't, we didn't head the ball and we got punished, we had to chase the game from 3-0 down and we can't chase the game from 3-0 down."