Jones left feeling 'deflated' after witnessing a 'calamity' of a defensive performance from Luton

Luton boss Nathan Jones was left feeling ‘deflated’ after witnessing a defensive performance he described as a ‘calamity’ during last night’s 3-3 draw against Huddersfield Town.

With Town dominating the game in terms of stats, having 24 shots and 10 on target, the visitors managed a mere three on target themselves, although that was boosted to five if you include the two own goals that Luton actually scored, then the Hatters should really have been walking off the pitch having secured a third successive victory.

That they weren't was down to the fact they couldn’t deal with Sorba Thomas’s set-plays, Carlton Morris and Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu both heading past their own keeper Ethan Horvath, while Dan Potts was deemed to have handled Michal Helik’s header from another corner, conceding a spot-kick that Jordan Rhodes converted.

Speaking afterwards, Jones, who has seen the Terriers become something of a bogey side now, Luton not winning in their last six meetings, including being beaten 2-1 on aggregate in the Championship play-offs last season, said: “I feel deflated now, but I shouldn’t be as 95 per cent of our performance was magnificent, apart from three set-plays.

“We’ve been dominant, but we were dominant in the semi-final up there and we conceded from a set-play, conceded from a set-play, and it’s not like this unbelievable delivery that’s undefendable, it’s not that.

“He has got great delivery but it’s not that.

“We put as good delivery in, but they did their job better on set-plays than we did.

“We had free headers six yards out but put it over and that’s why we’ve drawn the game and that’s frustrating as on the balance of play there should only be one outcome.

“He’s (Thomas) not doing anything that’s unbelievable, Elijah’s (Adebayo) misjudged it and then Carlton’s gone and headed it into his own net, there’s no-one around him, it’s unchallenged.

“Then it’s just a lofted ball in there that we just don’t mark at, they get first contact and he’s given them a penalty, which is a harsh penalty, but we didn’t win the first one and then the next one, our midfielder has just got to head it out.

“He’s unopposed and heads into his own net, it’s crazy, it’s crazy what happened and I can’t remember them having another chance.

“They had one cross across the goal which got everyone an ooo and an aah, but apart from that I can't remember them having anything.

“It’s a calamity really, but in terms of balance of play and aggression and what we did, how we went about it, I’m really happy.

"It’s just three set-plays, it's all I can say.”

Huddersfield’s equaliser came with 20 minutes to go and followed some poor communication between Fred Onyedinma and Mpanzu that saw the latter needlessly head behind for a corner which he then nodded into the net at the back post.

Jones continued: “He should have (cleared it) but then when you do, just defend.

“We didn’t win on the back stick, and we score two own goals, unopposed headers where we’ve headed it into our own net and that’s not good enough, because all our other play was excellent.

"We were aggressive, front-footed, looked like we could score on numerous occasions.

"Their keeper was excellent, we scored good goals, right at the end we could have won it, everything about our play, apart from those set-plays, was outstanding, but we’re sat here with a 3-3 draw.”

Although Jones had to alter his back three with Reece Burke and Gabe Osho absent, James Bree dropping in there from his regular wingback position, the Town chief didn’t want to use injuries as an excuse for the inability to defend Thomas’s corners, adding: “It’s unsettled as we’ve got a makeshift back our, but we’ve still got people in areas that we normally do.

“Elijah would have been near post zone, Carlton maybe would have marked so maybe we would have had Burke there, or (Dan) Potts back stick zone, yes, maybe, but we’ve got to better than that.

“We have to be better than that as our all-round play was outstanding.

“I was really pleased, we were aggressive, to score three at home, if we just defend set-plays, that’s a magnificent performance.”