Jones hails his Town players after making it successive victories with Reading victory

Reaction from Hatters boss to tonight's 2-0 win at Reading
Town boss Nathan Jones applauds the Luton fans at Reading this evening - pic: Gareth OwenTown boss Nathan Jones applauds the Luton fans at Reading this evening - pic: Gareth Owen
Town boss Nathan Jones applauds the Luton fans at Reading this evening - pic: Gareth Owen

Luton boss Nathan Jones hailed his players for doing exactly what he asked of them after recording successive wins in the Championship for the first time this season with a 2-0 triumph at Reading this evening.

An own goal from Tom Holmes in the first half saw the visitors move in front at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, before Allan Campbell’s strike just before the hour ensured the Hatters climbed up to 11th in the table.

Jones said: “I thought we were outstanding on the weekend (against Bournemouth), then to come here, I ask them to do stuff, against Harrogate for example, just win the game, as I knew we were physically nowhere, undercooked in so many ways.

“Today I said 'I want to go back-to-back, we haven’t been back-to-back in a while.'

"So it’s a tricky game this because they're having a tough time but they've got some dangerous players, players that can hurt you if you’re not at it.

"But I thought we were excellent, the application was brilliant, we defended our box really well, limited them to very little, and then looked a threat at times.

"We had enough quality to win the game, so I'm really pleased as when you look at the schedule we’ve got, and with everything, I just asked them to win the game tonight and that’s what we did.

"It was really important we did that.”

Although Reading are struggling badly this term, looking in danger of sliding into League One, Jones was always wary of the threat they could possess, especially with Town not winning here in the league since the 1998-99 campaign.

He added: "This is the Championship, they've got (Lucas) Joao who can always turn a game, but I thought we had a real element of control.

"The pitch was really poor so it was very tricky to move the ball and any time you moved it into midfield it was very dangerous.

"But I felt our front two were excellent all night, we had a threat, they gave us a little bit of impetus, and we were a real threat from set-plays,.

"We always looked like where were going score when we got the ball in the box and I'm happy we scored two away from home.

"I remember watching Luton here in the Championship, two, three, four, five, whatever the score was, and lost, now we come here and we’re winning and we’re strong.

"That shows we’ve come a long way and it's really pleasing, while performance-wise, for an away performance it was excellent."