Jones: We're right where we want to be going into final 13 games of the season

Town chief on Championship run-in
Luton's players celebrate Reece Burke's early header against Chelsea on Wednesday nightLuton's players celebrate Reece Burke's early header against Chelsea on Wednesday night
Luton's players celebrate Reece Burke's early header against Chelsea on Wednesday night

Luton are exactly in the position they want to be in going into the Championship run-in this season according to boss Nathan Jones.

With 13 games to go, the Hatters were sitting in the top six following last weekend’s 1-0 win over Derby County, although dropped out after Sheffield United drew 1-1 against Nottingham Forest on Friday night.

It means Town are level on points with the Blades, although do possess a game in hand, and could potentially leapfrog both them, QPR and Blackburn Rovers to climb up to fourth with a win at fellow play-off chasers Middlesbrough this afternoon.

Luton then travel to Coventry on Tuesday night and host QPR next Sunday, as Jones said: “They’re all massive games, our next three games against rivals really, this is what we wanted, this is the position we wanted to be in and it will be season-defining.

“We’re going to Middlesbrough who had a fantastic result (against Spurs in the FA Cup) they’ve put in a big shift, we’ve put in a big shift, so we’re looking forward to it.

"Then next time we come back here (Kenilworth Road), we’ve got QPR on Sky, so they’re all massive games now for us.

"We’re pushing boundaries at the minutes, over-achieving if you like, but we don't feel we’re over-achieving in ourselves as we know what we do in-house and we believe that our work is more relevant than our budget.”

To ensure his players were fresh for this afternoon’s contest, Jones made five changes for the 3-2 FA Cup fifth round defeat against Chelsea on Wednesday night.

Neither James Bree or Kal Naismith featured from the bench, with Allan Campbell only on in the second half, while Elijah Adebayo missed out completely.

It meant that players such as Carlos Mendes Gomes, Dan Potts, Admiral Muskwe and Peter Kioso all got valuable minutes, as Jones continued: “It’s ironic that we’re saying we’re giving people minutes and we’re playing Champions League winners and a top side.

"But we trust the group and we need everyone up to speed as we’ve got 13 absolutely huge games.

"The way we play, the aggression we play with, we can’t do that with just 11 players, so we’re going to need the whole group.

"A few have come through tonight and shown that they can cope with what we’re going to need to do.”

When asked whether the display against the Blues gave any inkling that should Town achieve their dream and reach the Premier League next season, they would be able to cope, the boss said: "I don’t know, there's not many that beat Chelsea, they don’t lose many football games.

"So to be able to test them and with the greatest of respect, we made five changes with Middlesbrough in mind.

"So could we cope in the Premier League? I don’t know. Would we like the opportunity? Absolutely.

“If it's away at Stamford Bridge you know it's going to be very tough, here is a little bit more of a leveller.

"Yes they have those resources, but you want to test yourself, we want to test ourselves against these.

"One day we want this to be a regular fixture, how soon that can be, we don’t know.

"So when you do come up against them we don’t sit in, we don't try to defend, we try to have a go and we did that.

"It’s a bit of caviar for us tonight as the bread and butter is the league and we’re back to that on Saturday.”

Town had stunned their opponents in the week, Reece Burke rising highest after just two minutes to glance a fantastic header past a motionless Kepa Arrizabalaga into the net for his second goal since arriving from Hull City.

It came from an excellent Luke Berry corner, as Jones said: "We know we’re very good from set-plays.

"We bought Alan Sheehan in specifically for that, we know we’re very, very good from set-plays, and we wanted to get a start to give something for the fans to get behind and not cling on to, as I don’t think we actually did that.

"We tried to be aggressive, we tried to go after them but they’re a very good side.

"We gifted them the first goal and to come back and get the goal, take the lead again, that showed there’s ambition there in terms of what we wanted to.

"I’m proud of the group as on a regular basis we can’t compete with these yet, whether we will do in the future is another thing, but I’m very proud of the club, that’s the main thing.”

Attacker Harry Cornick was also on target as he equalled his best ever season in front of goal with a ninth of the campaign, a feat he has only ever managed once before, back in 2019-20.

Going clean through on Kepa, he demonstrated, as he as done on a number of occasion now this term, that he doesn’t fear one-on-one's any more, sticking it away with real class.

Jones believed it was symptomatic of how the club is improving as a whole, adding: "I think we’re all evolving, we’re all getting better.

"I’ve had an experience where I went away and believed I got better and had a learning curve, we’re all adapting and we’re all getting better and we’re all evolving as coaches, as players, as a football club.

"So if that can continue then not only Harry Cornick, Elijah (Adebayo), myself, my group, all of us we'll get better.

"Harry’s a hard worker, he wants to do that, he gets in that position because of his energy and his pace, and the intelligence of his running, so it’s good.

“It was interesting, as that was the only time we demonstrated a little bit of quality, the only we actually secured the ball, played with a bit of zest.

"As if we’d done that a little bit more then we might have caused them a few more problems and then late on we had a little bit of a rally and maybe could have nicked one as that’s the only tinge of disappointment.

"We could have been a little bit braver, shown a little bit more composure and quality at times, and if we’d have done that, you never know, but I can’t have too many complaints.”