Jones frustrated with Hatters for not kicking on after a fifth defeat in eight at City

Luton boss Nathan Jones has been frustrated with his side for their inability to kick on in the Championship since the turn of the year.

After beating Bristol City 2-1 on December 29, Town found themselves seven points off the top six and 11 away from the drop zone.

Since then though they lost five out of their next eight league games, taking just seven points from a possible 24 as they are now 12 points adrift of what was always an ambitious attempt for the play-offs, but of more concern, now eight above the drop zone.

Jones, who led Town out of relegation trouble on the final day of last season, finishing 19th in the table, has long talked about his desire to improve even further this term and not be looking over their shoulders.

With two huge games coming up this week against Millwall and Sheffield Wednesday this week, there is a real chance to regain some momentum following a 3-0 defeat at Stoke City on Saturday, as the manager said: “We just don’t want to survive, we’re giving ourselves great opportunities to be somewhere and then we haven’t really kicked on and that’s cost us, it really has.

"We switched off against Blackburn because when the referee dropped a drop ball we were all talking and they played on and scored, 87 minutes of real good work was unravelled, those errors need to be cut out, that’s individual application.”

To start putting points on the board, Town need to improve a goalscoring record which has really hit the skids in recent weeks, drawing five blanks from eight in 2021, netting just three times in total.

It was the same again at the weekend when Luton failed to score at the bet365 Stadium, the ninth time that has happened on the road this term and 14th match overall, another factor Jones knows needs to change, adding: "It’s maybe trying some things as we work tirelessly on our attacking play.

"We get chances, we miss chances, but it’s about finding a formula that really works.”