Jones believes Preston victory shows Town aren't 'treading water' in the Championship

Hatters boss Nathan Jones believes Saturday’s 3-0 win over Preston North End shows that his side are not ‘treading water’ in the Championship this season.

The victory, which was the result of Luton’s most dominant performance at this level since returning to the second tier over year ago saw Alex Neil’s team, who had gone into the game with the joint best away record in the league, second best from the moment James Collins opened the scoring on 20 minutes.

Having drawn 1-1 with Preston on his first match back after taking over during lockdown last season, a late Callum McManaman goal salvaging a point, Jones could see real signs of progress this term, saying: “We are establishing ourselves as a Championship side and these are a perennial Championship top half, if not play-off team.

“They know what they’re doing, they’ve got good players, real good depth, six front men who can really cause you problems, so you have to be at it from start to finish and we were, we were right at it.

“Last time we were here and we drew 1-1, I wouldn’t say we were fortunate but the level of performance wasn’t like that, so we’ve shown we’ve come on leaps and bounds in five months.

“We’re a different animal and that’s the good thing, as it shows now we’re not treading water at this level, we’re not just content to float, we want to fly.”

Although Collins took the headlines as expected after notching his fifth hat-trick for the club, the manner in which Hatters approached the game after the break with a 2-0 lead already in their grasp, was something that caused Jones great pleasure.

He said: "I just thought the level we had and the energy we showed was phenomenal.

"I wanted my wide men to come on and press which they did, Rhys (Norrington-Davies) provided that press and so did Clicker (Jordan Clark).

"Then my two midfield players (Luke Berry and Ryan Tunnicliffe) came on with a real aggression to go on and do well, then we had (Sam) Nombe to come on and give Collo a nice standing ovation.

"But that’s what we have to do, as at the end of last year we had to get points, we just had to get points.

"We couldn’t come out and be open, because points were just desperate, so we had to evolve.

"Now we are evolving into a more front-footed Championship side and that’s the pleasing thing, because these are a good side.”

The margin of victory could have been even greater for the Hatters too, with opportunities missed in the second period, as Jones said: “It was a good performance, it wasn’t as fluent as other performances, but we knew the aggression, the work-rate and just how on the front foot we were, it was really, really good to see.

"We had a lot of chances, we had 19 shots, a lot on target, scored three, should have scored more, because we feel that (Tom) Lockyer’s was a glorious chance, Pelly-Ruddock’s (Mpanzu), so we’re very pleased with the overall performance and obviously the result.

“We know that Preston are a very good side, and if you let them dominate proceedings then they’re a very front-footed side.

"Alex Neil’s built a reputation as someone who is one, very organised, but two, really gets his side doing all of the basics very, very well and then he has some talented players that can hurt you and we knew that going into the game.

“We had to make sure that we did all the basics right, we wanted to play with aggression because we were at home and we went midweek to make sure that one, we didn't get beat and two, to really have a right go at the weekend and that’s what we did.

"Overall it topped off a good week and we knew we had to be at it as I’m a big admirer or Preston.

"They do things very well, I always describe them as 'they know what they’re doing at Championship level.'”

Although Town were deserved winners, Lilywhites captain Alan Browne was more disparaging about his own side’s performance, stating they couldn't have played any worse if they had tried.

When asked about the comments, Jones added: “I can’t second guess what Preston do but I played Preston away when I was at my previous club (Stoke City) and lost 3-1 from three absolute howling errors.

"I’m sure Preston would have thought they played well on the night and I looked at it differently, as they didn’t have to do much to win.

“I think that was slightly different, so however you see the game that’s fine, all I can concentrate on is my team and how we played and how we went about our work and I thought we did that excellently.

"(Jayden) Stockley had a chance early on and apart from that, they didn’t really have another chance.

"So whether they were rubbish or we were very good, whatever happens, the outcome is the same.”