Jones explains his reasons for bringing in on-loan Aston Villa keeper Steer and dropping Shea against Baggies

Luton boss Nathan Jones has explained his reasoning behind handing on-loan Aston Villa keeper Jed Steer his Championship debut for the Hatters during Saturday’s 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion.

The 29-year-old came into replace James Shea who had started the last 10 league matches for the Hatters, as he kept four clean sheets against Blackpool, Reading, Blackburn Rovers and Swansea, but conceded three in the 3-0 defeat at Birmingham last weekend.

That saw Steer, signed on deadline day for the rest of the campaign, given his first second tier outing for the Hatters after playing in the 3-0 FA Cup fourth round triumph over Cambridge United recently too.

It was a slightly nervy start at the weekend for the former Norwich youngster, one under-hit clearance seized upon by Andy Carroll, with Karlan Grant's shot squirming through his grasp and only just rolling wide.

However, he recovered to make a number of commanding punches from the Baggies’ set-pieces, while used his feet well to save from Carroll's low drive.

The keeper also looked confident with the ball at his feet too, clipping a number of good passes out to either flank, as on his display, Jones said: “We brought Jed into play, Jed’s a Premier League keeper, he was a top Championship keeper, so we brought him into play.

"But we just felt with the competition we have, we didn’t just want to put him in because James Shea’s done fantastically well.

"We felt the magnitude of the game, being at home, it was the right time to integrate Jed.

"I thought he was excellent, really secure, a calmness about him which we like, a clean sheet, so a good decision.”

Steer was thankful to his crossbar twice, the first from a mistake of Town's own making when Kal Naismith tried an ill-advised pass across his own area, picking out Grant who then dinked against the bar, Steer parrying away Carroll’s follow up before Gabe Osho nipped into clear.

Carroll then thundered a close range header against the bar late on, as on the errors at the back, Jones added: “We said if we just do the basics right, because it’s a day for the basics with the conditions and what happened last week, do the basics right and then grow into the game.

"We started really well, first half, if one, we cut out the errors and two we just had a little bit more bravery as it was only Kal who had the bravery first half when he was playing and too much bravery really, clipping the ball in his own area.

"We got away with one there, but also Admiral Muskwe’s taken a ball off Elijah’s (Adebayo) toes to score, we’ve hit the post, so we’ve had chances as well.

"Second half I thought we were full value for our win.”