Jones: Championship schedule is taking its toll on the Hatters

Luton boss Nathan Jones believes that the congested Championship schedule is beginning to take its toll on his Hatters squad.

Tuesday night’s disappointing 2-0 defeat at Millwall was Town’s second loss in a row and third from four fixtures, having only scored two goals in that time.

After playing seven games in the opening month of the season, Town are now in the middle of another hectic sequence, with a further seven fixtures games in just 21 days.

It then gets even tougher, Luton having nine matches in just 29 days, leading up to a Christmas period where Town play another three encounters going into the new year.

With Luton having leading scorer James Collins out due to a positive coronavirus test, plus Harry Cornick nursing a groin problem and full backs Dan Potts and James Bree still missing at the New Den, Jones said: “We started fresh and were in good form but now it’s started to catch us up a little bit, as we haven’t been able to freshen it up.

“We’ve got to utilise the squad and that’s why we have the squad we have, you have to do that and find a balance.

“Sometimes it takes people time to get fit. If you’re rolling results out like we did at the beginning of the season then the games come thick and fast and you don’t mind that.

“At the minute, it’s starting to take its toll and it will, it will on everyone.

“It’s how you come through these things because this isn’t going to ease up, it’s literally until May.

“The season’s got to be finished, there are 40 games left, plus the FA Cup and there isn’t that much time to do it, with five, six, seven games a month.”

With Potts missing since pre-season, Bree still out with a knee injury suffered in the 2-1 win over Derby County and summer signing Tom Lockyer getting fit after an ankle injury, it means that Rhys Norrington-Davies and Martin Cranie have started every league game, along with centre halves Sonny Bradley and Matty Pearson.

Jones continued:“A lot of players are having to do a lot of big shifts at the moment and that’s taking a lot away from us.

“The same back four have had to play for a long, long time and they look out on their feet.

“We’ve had one left back fit (Norrington-Davies) and he played six 90 minutes, then got his first call-up to Wales.

"He had two weeks training and then a 90 minutes two days before he was going to play for us, so it’s just really difficult at the minute to get any real freshness.

“James Bree and Dan Potts are the injured full backs that could give the other full backs respite who have played nine 90 minutes, pretty much.

"It’s tough to do in the Championship.

“We’re looking a bit jaded at the minute, we have to try and regroup, we have to try to pick up points, get some wins now, and hopefully there’s a bit of respite in the international break.

“It’s just very difficult at the minute because you get no time.

"You’re never fresh, never quite at it, you’re never able to put the work into them because it’s game, game, game, game.

"It’s just maintenance at the minute and it’s very difficult to get any quality of performance out of them.”

However, with Town heading to Sheffield Wednesday this weekend, then Jones is hopeful they can put their recent blip behind them, adding: “We want to get back to winning ways.

“We were five or six games in before we had our first defeat and once we get everyone back and once we start to find a bit of rhythm, we’ll be fine.

“It’s difficult but if we get 1.5 points per game for the whole season, we’ll be in a decent place.

“We’ve just got to keep plugging away, working hard, keep doing the right things and we’ll pick the points up that we need."