Jones wants performances and points as Luton enter crucial part of their season

Luton boss Nathan Jones has tasked his side with producing both performances and points as they begin a spell of 11 games in 36 days with a trip to struggling Birmingham City this afternoon.

The Blues find themselves in serious relegation trouble, dropping into the bottom three following last weekend’s 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth and without a home win since October 28.

After a run of just one win from their last four matches, Town are by no means fully clear of the drop zone themselves though, with just six points between the Hatters and third bottom Derby County.

Following today’s encounter, Luton then face a run of two matches a week for the next fives, including home games with Cardiff, Millwall, Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham, Swansea and Coventry, plus trips to Stoke, Nottingham Forest, Norwich and Preston.

By the end of the sequence, Town should have a firm idea of just where there campaign is headed, as a battle ready Jones said: "We’ve had two good weeks really in terms of intensity and the work we’ve been able to do, the weather has hindered some things this week, but we’ve been able to get full sessions on.

“If I’m honest, we’re kind of looking forward now to having a few games, a couple of home games as well as apart from Saturday we’ve been away quite a bit.

"So it’s a good run coming up, we want to take full advantage of that and we’ll be ready for those.

“It’s all about getting points on the board, regardless of who you’re playing against.

“We’ve had a run of tough games, and the cup was a distraction when we played Chelsea.

“Now we’ve got a real run of league games where we want to get as many points as we possibly can and make sure we’re in a good position.

“After Bournemouth it’s been a tough schedule and we had a game called off with QPR and it's just been a little bit disjointed with the cup game.

"Now we’re looking forward to a real run of games where we can batten down the hatches and get some performances and points.”

Although Town are in 15th place, they remain just nine points adrift of the top six, and Jones hasn't ruled out trying to break into the play-off positions if they can string a sequence of victories together.

He added: “It’s such a close league and if you can put two or three wins together you go from the suburbs to Utopia if you like, it’s that type of league.

"And vice versa, if you don’t pick up results you can get dragged into it.

“We know that and everyone knows that, so the Championship is a very, very strange league where anything can happen.

"What we’ve got to make sure is your performances, your points, are what you want to achieve and then anyone else, it doesn’t concern you.”