Jones: Bees victory lays to rest the ghosts of Griffin Park debacle

Luton chief Graeme Jones felt his side laid to rest the ghosts of Town’s 7-0 defeat at Brentford back in November by beating the Bees 2-1 at Kenilworth Road this evening.

On that miserable day at Griffin Park, the Hatters found themselves annihilated by their hosts, with Jones booed off by the travelling supporters afterwards.

This time, it was completely different, Shandon Baptiste’s own goal and Martin Cranie’s cracking on the stroke of half time, putting Town 2-0 in front.

Although Brentford dominated large parts of the second period, they only had Ollie Watkins’ late strike to show for their efforts, as this time the Town boss was given a superb ovation by the home fans.

Speaking to the press afterwards, an understandably elated Jones said: “I’m totally satisfied, that lays the ghosts of Griffin Park for me.

“I wouldn’t call it revenge, it was an embarrassing day for myself, my staff and the players who are honest as the day is long, but naïve in the Championship in a tough week where we played Leeds United, beat Charlton here (Kenilworth Road) and we just couldn’t go again.

“We got punished in every single area and then you measure it three months on and you see the level of performance tonight and that tells you we haven’t been sitting idle, doing nothing.

“We’ve all been working really hard because you can’t win a football match against that quality unless you can play as a team and that was really satisfying.”

Jones went with a side that contained six players who started at Griffin Park, Dan Potts, Matty Pearson, Ryan Tunnicliffe, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Harry Cornick and James Collins.

To win with such a similar 11 also gave the Luton manager extra joy, as he added: “It means everything to me, that’s where we are, because that was the worst day of my football career.

“Six players on the pitch that started tonight experienced that feeling of helplessness because you’re 5-0 down and then you go down to ten men and the referee has given two penalties against you.

“Obviously, I made all three substitutions and that was the most helpless I felt on a football pitch and I love to be competitive.

"My team was competitive tonight and I feel like we’ve erased that now.

“Believe me, I’ve done the analysis for this game and I know the level of this team.

"The game’s been managed well since Saturday night and getting beaten by Charlton, the boys were absolutely magnificent.

“Carrying out instructions and executing them down to a tee, that gives me great satisfaction."