Jones lauds Town's belief as they end 80-year wait for an away league win from 2-0 down

Hatters chief proud of his side for their second half reaction
Elijah Adebayo celebrates making it 2-2 at Bristol City on Sunday - pic: Gareth OwenElijah Adebayo celebrates making it 2-2 at Bristol City on Sunday - pic: Gareth Owen
Elijah Adebayo celebrates making it 2-2 at Bristol City on Sunday - pic: Gareth Owen

Luton boss Nathan Jones highlighted the belief within his side as they came back from 2-0 down to win an away game in the league for the first time for over 80 years on Sunday.

The Hatters had previously triumphed when trailing by two goals on the road way back in November 1938, as then a Division Two side they went to take on Bury at Gigg Lane

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Behind 2-0 at the break, the Hatters came roaring back thanks to goals from Hugh Billington (2), George Stephenson (2) and Billy Redfern to end up winning 5-2 in front of a shell-shocked crowd of 8,658.

They had managed it once in non-league, losing 2-0 to Cambridge United in September 2009 and down to 10 men with Liam Hatch sent off, before Kevin Gallen's double, plus strikes from Rossi Jarvis and Jake Howells secured a 4-3 victory.

Although Town had laid to rest their miserable two-and-a-half year record of losing when conceding first on their travels at Wycombe Wanderers in their previous away contest, having been 1-0 down, they topped that this time, with James Collins, Elijah Adebayo and Harry Cornick completing the comeback at Ashton Gate.

Speaking afterwards, Jones said: "You don't just score three goals from character, you have to have belief, have to have quality to take those chances and we showed all that.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"I’m very proud of the team, first half we needed to be better.

"They were just sloppy in their distribution and we could never get a foothold and never stretched the play.

"We never played in their half, played all in front of them as (Zak) Vyner and (Tomas) Kalas are very aggressive, so if you don't turn them and don't play in their half, it's tough.

"Second half we made it a lot more uncomfortable for them, they had to change and put on an extra centre half as we were on the front foot and I’m pleased with that.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"Because I remember a time when everyone used to change for us, it's slightly different at this level, but we want to get there."

Striker Adebayo, who restored parity against the Robins with a clever side-footed volley knows that being able to come back from a goal down is a useful tool to have in the Hatters' armoury, although knows it can't be happening all the time.

He said: "It’s a big boost, as you're going to find yourself in games where you’re 1-0 down or 2-0 down.

"It’s a position that you don't want to be doing on a regular basis, but it’s good to know that we can do it and it’s there if we put our minds to it,

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"Like the gaffer said, we don’t want to be giving teams head starts as if we had put them to the sword in the first half then it could have been four, five, six.

"That’s the way you want to go about games, not giving teams a leg up and then having to fight back, but it’s been good.

"The boys are delighted, we’re ready to go again, we want to finish as high as possible."

Pulling it back to 2-1 after an hour through Collins' glancing header was vital for the Hatters too as Adebayo knew if they had fallen further behind it would have been game over.

He added: "That’s what we said, the next goal is crucial.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"We don't want to go 3-0 down as that makes it an even bigger mountain to climb, so 2-0 we know if we get the next goal there's always belief we’re going to go and score again.

"We've scored three in the past so why can't we do it again, the boys know that, so the first goal was always going to be crucial."