Jones insisted Luton 'made gains' in fight to stay up after Stoke draw

Hatters boss Graeme Jones insisted his side 'made gains' in their fight to stay up at the weekend despite only drawing 1-1 with fellow strugglers Stoke City.

The result saw Luton remain at the bottom of the Championship, as they dropped a point further away from safety after Wigan won 1-0 at West Bromwich Albion.

However, with Charlton hammered 4-0 at Huddersfield, Hull thrashed by Leeds United and Middlesbrough dropping into the relegation zone ahead of their home match with Nottingham Forest this evening, Jones was keen to look at the positives from a week that had seen Town also beat Brentford on Tuesday night.

He said: “I only look at us, but Charlton were nine points ahead of us seven days ago and now they’re five and we’ve made gains.

“That’s the most important thing this week, we’ve made gains in our performance and also made gains in points, so I’m really satisfied.

“We’ll rest the boys up and make sure they’re fresh for Wigan next week.”

Although Jones had played down the clash beforehand, he knew just how important it had been to get something with Stoke just five points in front of them in fifth bottom.

They fell behind after just nine minute, but battled back to grab a point courtesy of James Collins' stoppage time penalty.

The Town chief also felt the draw highlighted Town's new-found resilience as they made it one defeat in five games.

He continued: “I’m really satisfied to get a point at the end, three would have been a difficult task for us in terms of catching Stoke.

“Obviously now at least we’ve not let them get any further ahead, so 10 games to go, all to play for.

“I wouldn’t say feel like a victory, we haven’t done that (draw) enough, because we haven’t been resilient enough to be able to do it.

“That’s a measurement of our resilience that we got something from the game, through substitutions, through tactics, through the boy’s characters, and never-say-die attitude.

“That’s what’s pleasing as we’re going to need that over the next 10 games.”