Jones left disappointed with his 'nervous' back three as Town's defence fail to dominate impressive Coventry front-line

Luton manager Nathan Jones conceded he was disappointed with the performance of what he described as a ‘nervous’ back three during last night’s 2-2 draw against Coventry.

The Hatters chief recalled captain Sonny Bradley to the starting line-up to face the Sky Blues in place of an unfortunate Tom Lockyer, the Welsh international having been in excellent form since coming into the side himself recently.

Flanked by Gabe Osho and Dan Potts, the skipper, playing his first game since the 2-0 defeat at Bristol City a month ago, looked a shadow of his usual self in the early stages, easily outpaced by City’s impressive forward Viktor Gyokeres inside just 60 seconds, the striker fortunately dragging wide with just Ethan Horvath to beat.

Bradley then appeared to pull up when trying and failing to catch his man once more, but battled on, although could only watch when Potts was next to find Gyokeres too hot to handle.

Despite having a head-start on his opponent to a ball through the middle, the ex-West Ham youngster found himself somehow finish second best in the race, while his weak attempts to prevent the Swedish international from going through on goal failed, Gyokeres this time demonstrating his clinical instincts to draw Coventry level at 1-1.

Although Town led 2-1 at the break, courtesy of Carlton Morris’s second of the night, it wasn’t without further scares, that man Gyokeres putting another header straight at Horvath, while in the second period, the visitors continued to cause Luton's ponderous and increasingly worrying back-line real issues, Jamie Allen’s effort tipped over by the Hatters’ USA international.

It was no real surprise when City levelled on the hour either, Gustavo Hamer curling home a top-drawer effort from 25 yards as the hosts continued to give their supporters kittens defensively, retreating into their own box as Ben Sheaf stabbed over, but fortunately a late winner didn’t materialise this time, as it had done against Wigan last time out.

Speaking afterwards, Jones said: “I’m really disappointed tonight, I’m really disappointed with my back three as they should have been dominant.

“We’ve got Sonny who should be dominant, Potts has been in good form in terms of his aggression and Gabe for his athleticism, but we didn't give ourselves a platform and that’s disappointing.

“We pride ourselves on doing the basics well and we’re not doing the basics well enough.

“We’ve lost Kal (Kal Naismith) and Kal really settled us down and was a big player for us.

"We haven’t replaced him as we couldn’t really and we looked a little bit nervous tonight as a back three.

“But they haven’t (in previous games) as Pottsy’s been excellent this year, Gabe and Sonny haven’t really played much football so that was an opportunity for them, but we’ve got to be better, we’ve got to be better than we were tonight, especially defensively.

“We turn the ball over, then they play one ball, he shouldn’t be able to do that.

"One, if he gets the ball as he’s quicker, two, he shouldn’t then skip past our last man and then be able to slot it in.

"It’s poor defending, poor defending, we’ve got to be better, because if we accept that as our benchmark then we’ll do nothing this season.”

The result means Jones’ side have only kept one clean sheet at Kenilworth Road this term, that in the opening day goalless draw with Birmingham City, which isn’t a good enough return for the manager.

He continued: “We can’t keep conceding two goals at home and expect to win games, that’s not the type of team we are.

“We do like to score goals, but we like to keep clean sheets.

"We pride ourselves on being aggressive and fit and strong and really doing that.

"We had 19 clean sheets last season, I think we’ve now got two in nine, so that’s not good enough at this level to improve and that’s the big thing we’re not doing at the minute.

"We’re conceding when we shouldn’t and it’s coming at bad times, as they didn’t have to do a lot to score a goal and that’s frustrating.

“Regardless of what combinations we play, we’ve got to be better and that’s not me saying they’re this, they’re that.

"They know and I’ve told them we’ve got to be better as we can’t look as open and as poor as we’ve looked.

"As that was Wigan as well, and we’ve conceded not from our own six yard box where people have carved us open, we’ve conceded from outside the box.

"So we’ll have to look at those things, closing the ball down, defending deep, whatever it is, it’s goals for us that are poor really.”

When asked if Bradley had been suffering from an injury during the first half when he was given a really testing time by former Brighton forward Gyokeres, not much going right for the Luton skipper all night, almost giving the ball away with an ill-judged backpass, before putting a number of clearances straight out of play, Jones continued: “No I don’t think so.

"I think Gyokeres immediately put him on the back foot, showed pace, had a great night, a real good night.

"We started to get to grips with it second half a little bit more, but they caused us problems that front two and we knew they would, as they’re willing runners.

"Last year we dealt with them no problem and tonight we didn’t and that didn’t give us a good enough platform.

"It wasn’t their fault that we drew the game, that contributed to that, but we’ve got to be better, got to be dominant.

"Sonny hasn’t played for a little while, Gabe’s in and out, so we’re gathering rhythm, we lost Reece Burke, so it’s one of those things.”

Town’s inability to clear their lines led to the equaliser arriving too as once Luke Freeman and James Bree got in each other’s way, Town weren’t able to repel the pressure, despite having chances in which to do so, Hamer doing the business from distance.

Jones added: “There’s lots to be positive about, but you can’t concede two goals again at home.

"Even their second goal, every shot is going in from outside the box as well, which is another thing.

"Are people showing that much quality? As it’s almost an identical finish to the other day, and we could have dealt with it better.

"Bree and Freeman get confused and that puts them in another counter attack.

"All these things happen at the minute that weren’t happening last year as we were keeping clean sheets.

"But at the minute we’re not looking at home like we can keep clean sheets, away we’ve got no problem.”