Jones knows Town have to tighten up at the back to avoid relegation

Town boss Nathan Jones knows full well that his side simply have to tighten up at the back if they are to have any chance of avoiding relegation to League One this season.

The Hatters go into the final nine games of the Championship campaign with the worst defensive record in the division, on minus 28, having conceded 71 goals in 37 matches so far.

With bottom side Barnsley (-20) the second poorest, it puts Luton at a distinct disadvantage during the run-in as although they are six points adrift of safety on paper, they need to make up seven in reality.

When Jones was first at Kenilworth Road, the Hatters were a solid unit, conceding just 43 goals in 46 games in his first full season, plus 46 the following term, although admittedly, that was in League Two.

Under previous boss Graeme Jones, Town had show signs of life defensively ahead of the campaign being postponed due to the coronavirus in March, keeping three clean sheets in six games, and conceding just five goals.

With that in mind, Jones, who was in charge of Stoke up until November, said: "I do think that recently they’ve improved that considerably, in the second half of the season.

“In the first half of the season, you’re finding your feet and it’s a difficult league to try to find your feet in, because you can get punished for absolutely nothing.

“I’ve experienced that, trust me, in this season.

“I understand that but I do believe there are goals in the team.

“It’s just what we do defensively will determine our outcome, but that’s always the case.

“We were famed for our style of play and how many goals we scored (during Jones' three years in charge), but in pretty much every season, we were top three, defensively.

“Sometimes we were the top one, sometimes second, but we were always in the top three defensively.

“When we got the two promotions, I think we were first and second, defensively, in the league.

“We’ve always had a good defensive record so we’ve got to make sure we do that.

"It’s different tests because it’s the Championship, but what we do out of possession will determine how we finish.

“The more clean sheets we have, definitely, the more points we’ll get and the more wins we’ll achieve.

"It you don’t concede many and can score goals, it doesn't half increase your chances of winning."

When he had such a tough defence to crack, Jones was able to call upon both James Justin and Jack Stacey, two of the division’s outstanding full backs, who have both since gone on to the Premier League.

Not having replacements of their calibre might lead to a slight alteration in Jones’ thinking as he starts his second stint in the hot-seat, as he said: “They were probably two of the best outside the Premier League, so they were key to what we wanted to do.

“Time will tell whether we implement the diamond or do something different, but they were key to what we wanted to do, and to fill those shoes takes a lot.

"We’ll see what we play, we’ll see what formation we play, what personnel we play and go from there.

“It won’t change my philosophy though, because the philosophy is not necessarily how you play, it’s how you act and how you work in everything you do.

“We have to make sure that we get points on the board.

"At League One and League Two level we felt, whether that was true or not, that we were better than most so we went out and attacked them and said 'we want to score goals,' we played that way.

“Now it’s slightly different in the Championship because you have to play with respect but I still want us to be an attacking side, I can’t suddenly change every way I work.

“We’re very respectful of what we come up against but we have to win games and that’s what we want to do.

“We haven’t had the time to work with them, so we’ve had to get them to a certain level that hopefully we can be competitive and win Championship games.

"It won’t be ground-breakingly different, but certain things may have to change.”