Jones targets the win he believes will be enough to keep Luton up

Luton chief Nathan Jones has urged his side to make sure they put Championship survival in their own hands when coming up against Blackburn Rovers at Kenilworth Road this evening.

The Hatters complete their exhausting schedule since lockdown ended at home to Tony Mowbray’s side tonight, in the knowledge that a victory will more than likely secure their second tier status for another season.

For Luton to triumph and still go down, it would need an independent commission to overturn Wigan Athletic’s 12-point deduction for entering administration as well as Charlton winning at champions Leeds, plus both Birmingham City and Middlesbrough avoiding defeat at home to Derby County and away to Shefffield Wednesday respectively.

A draw could be enough if Charlton lose, Wigan’s appeal is rejected, plus the Latics fail to beat promotion-chasing Fulham and Barnsley are beaten by third-placed Brentford.

A defeat may just do the job if both Wigan and Barnsley don’t win, and the points deduction remains in place, but Jones said: “It’s a one-off game where we want to win.

“If we win the game, it pretty much guarantees where we’ll be next year and that’s what we’d prefer to do.

“We never go into a game looking to draw it, that can become tricky.

“I’d imagine there will be a lot of twists and turns throughout the evening with results, so all we have to do is focus on us and if we get our job done, then that’s all we can ask for.”

Although Town’s position in the table could alter throughout the evening based on goings on elsewhere, Jones hopes to resist adjusting his gameplan as the night unfolds, continuing: “I don’t think so, unless someone says to me, ‘look, a point’s enough here,’ I don’t envisage that.

“That won’t happen to late on anyway, so we want to try and win the game.

“If we win the game, then there’s nothing more we can do, it will just take everything out of it.

"So we want to focus on the one thing that we can affect, and if we do that then we’ll be fine.”

Although knowing the victory should be enough, Jones hinted that he might not open up and go all-out from the off against a Rovers side who themselves have nothing to play for.

He added: “It’s all about the points haul, however we get them it doesn’t matter.

“If you go gung ho and be really open, you get hurt at this level, that has been shown.

“We’ve got a goal difference that is a hindrance to us in terms of a point, so we can’t afford to do that.

“What I’ve tried to do is to make sure we are in every game and we’ve got an opportunity to win every game and that has happened in seven games.

“We have only needed one goal to get a result, now yes we’d have liked to get two in every game and have won seven, but this is the Championship.

“I built a reputation as being a really attacking manager and coach, playing a certain way, but you have to adapt, have to learn and have to grow, and I’ve had to do that.

“I learned a hell of a lot in my time away from here and I’ve been able to use that coming back.

“However we get the results in this short space of time, it doesn’t matter how we get them, we’ve just got to get them and that’s been the biggest thing.

“We’ve sacrificed fluency for points and so far we’ve got a healthy return.

“I think we’re 1.6 per game, which you do the maths on that, you’re looking at around about 70 points a season, that’s play-off form.”