Hylton earns glowing praise from Town boss Jones after reaching his 150th appearance for the Hatters

Town striker Danny Hylton earned some high praise from manager Nathan Jones after finally making his 150th appearance for the club during Tuesday night's 3-1 win over Middlesbrough

The 32-year-old forward has had to wait some time to reach the milestone, as following his summer move from Oxford United in the summer of 2016, reached a century fairly quickly, in the FA Cup win at former side Bury in December 2018.

The next 50 have taken him a considerable time to chalk up though, due to a succession of injuries which have hindered him, particularly since Luton won promotion to the Championship.

However, Hylton was introduced for the final 10 minutes in place of Harry Cornick, getting about the Boro defence with his usual persistence, the only thing missing a first home goal since March 2019 for the Town fans to cheer.

Speaking about his display, Jones said: "He’s had a tough time with injuries and being managed, but he’s back involved with us now.

"I thought he was excellent when he came on, albeit for a 15 minute cameo, he was excellent.

"We needed someone to really go on and give us impetus, press, keep the ball, get us up the pitch.

"I thought he was outstanding for that last period of the game, we had zero problems and he was part of that."

Jones was able to make the substitution with Town leading 3-1 and in control thanks to a three goal blast in just five second half minutes, Sonny Bradley, Elijah Adebayo and Cornick all finding the net.

He continue: “Goals change games, we’ve seen that.

"We go to Bournemouth the other day and were excellent for 20 minutes, on 18 minutes we have a glorious opportunity to take the lead we don’t, five minutes later we’re two down.

"That’s what happens, goals change games and you have to take your chance.

"Even Saturday against Preston when we were terrible, we have a glorious chance with Glen Rea which we can change the mood, so if you score when you’re on top and if you score at the right times, then that changes lives and that’s what it did tonight.”

The win saw Town jump back into the play-off places for 24 hours, as although they dropped out following Wednesday night's round of games, to sit in eighth, it further showcased the crazy nature of the division.

Up against Stoke this afternoon, Luton could go up to fourth with a win, or find themselves in the lower mid-table region once more, depending on the outcome, as Jones added: "You’ve just got to keep winning, keep picking up points, and eventually the table evolves into where you should be.

"I had a call from Sky and they said with your xG (expected goals) you should be top four.

"I said 'we know that,' but when I was at Stoke my xG should have been top six and I was bottom two.

"What we’re doing is we’re turning that xG into goals and we’re picking up points at a decent rate.

“Have we got all the points we deserve? Probably not, but would you take sixth place being us, probably yes.”