Jones hopes Town's form at Carlisle continues

Luton chief Nathan Jones is looking to continue his unbeaten ways at Brunton Park when the Hatters face Carlisle United this afternoon.
Hatters boss Nathan JonesHatters boss Nathan Jones
Hatters boss Nathan Jones

Since taking over as Town manager, Jones has overseen a 2-1 victory in the 2015-16 campaign thanks to goals from Joe Pigott and Josh McQuoid, plus a 0-0 draw last season.

Luton also came away with a 1-0 triumph from the Cumbrians on their first match back in the Football League under John Still in August 2014 and have only tasted defeat in one of their previous nine visits, winning five.

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When asked if it was a good omen, Jones said: “I hope so, but it’s a different group and they have a slightly different group, it’s different circumstances, so a lot can happen.

“But if we come back unbeaten then we’ll be delighted. If we win, that will be the main thing, so we’re going up there to try and win a football match and we’ll endeavour to do that.”

A win for the Hatters would see them promoted to League One, while the hosts also need a victory to keep alive their slim hopes of reaching the play-offs, as they trail seventh place by eight points with nine left to play for.

On whether that would see Keith Curle’s side come out with an attacking intent to make for an open game, Jones continued: “I don’t know, I can’t second guess what they’re going to do.

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“I think they still have something to play for, a lot of things have to go for them to get in, but it’s not to say it’s beyond the realm.

“I have no idea what their motivation will be, I doubt they’ll be any less motivated anyway, probably slightly more because it’s us, so it’ll be a tough game.

“I know it’s always a tough game against Carlisle, regardless of scorelines and I envisage Saturday being no different.”

Luton can approach the game in good spirits, well and truly out of their recent mini blip with four wins from five and three successes in a row.

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Jones added: “We have a goal, what we want to do, we’ve won the last three, we want to make sure that we finish strong now and we would like to get over the line.

“We want to get over the line as soon as possible and if we can do that on the weekend then that will be a bonus.”

"We’re in good form, it's always a tight game against Carlisle, but we want to win the game and we’ll try to do that."