Jones has no complaints as he felt his Town side were brought back down to earth by Lilywhites loss

Luton boss Nathan Jones felt his side were brought back down to earth after turning in a poor performance to lose out 2-0 at Preston North End this afternoon.

The Hatters had gone into the contest sitting sixth in the table and looking to establish their position among the play-offs chasers, only to find themselves down in 10th place at the final whistle, as their five game unbeaten run was ended.

A scrappy opening to the clash saw Lilywhites leading score Emil Riis score out of nothing with 27 minutes gone, his angled drive flying into the top corner after Luton failed to clear

Town were then architects of their own downfall in first half stoppage time, skipper Sonny Bradley needlessly diving in on Ali McCann to concede a penalty that Riis tucked away under the body of Simon Sluga for a 2-0 lead they never really looked in danger of losing.

Jones said “We didn’t really look like scoring today as we didn't do the basics well enough.

"There was nothing in the game and then on the edge of the box we have a chance to clear it, we don’t, we try to be clever, which happened three, four, five times today, they rob it, I don't think he means to score from there, but that was a big moment.

"The penalty obviously right on the stroke of half time, two of us going to ground, cheap defending and that’s what cost us, but we were a mile off it today.

"The goal was a bit fortuitous, we could have done better with the penalty, but we weren’t at our levels today and Preston had to contribute to that.

"I thought Preston were excellent, in terms of what they did and they did to us what we normally do to teams, and that’s the sad thing.

"But we haven't had a performance like that for a little bit, so it brings us back down to earth a bit.”

The boss made two changes at the break, taking off Sonny Bradley and Glen Rea for Admiral Muskwe and Henri Lansbury, but although home keeper Daniel Iversen made excellent saves from Muskwe and then Kal Naismith's late deflected effort, Jones felt they didn't deserve anything from the contest.

He added: “They were better than us in midfield, the back three let the ball bounce far, far too many times, the midfield players were going to ground, we got booked as we were going to ground.

"We were then petulant and had a lack of discipline, so there was no control today and we were second best all over.

"I've got no complaints, yes, we huffed and puffed and if we'd only got an early goal but realistically we didn't have it and I can't remember one person playing well today, I really can't.

"People didn't jack the towel in, they kept going right until the end and that' the group we’ve got, but we weren't our usual selves today.”