Jones will go back to full strength for Town's clash with Preston

Hatters boss Nathan Jones will revert to his full strength side for this afternoon’s clash with Preston North End at Kenilworth Road.

The Town chief made 11 changes to his team during Tuesday night’s 3-2 defeat against Newport County, disappointed afterwards with the manner of his team’s performance when out of possession.

Luton’s first choice XI have made unbeaten start to life in the second tier, with successive draws against Birmingham and Burnley, and those players will be charged with securing a first victory of the campaign in front of their own fans today.

Jones said: “We will go back to full strength on Saturday, whatever that looks like.

“A few have given me food for thought and I’ve learned a little more from Tuesday.

“We’re in a good place, we won’t get carried away by defeat because for 70 minutes we were good.

“First half we were really good, kept the ball, we had a number of opportunities and a lot of people got minutes that they needed.

“We had a lot of people playing out of position so it was a real good run out.

“To be fair, apart from the goals which were fundamental, I was really pleased with large parts of the game.

“We always want to do well, we don’t like losing football matches and it’s the first we have lost since we came back.

"It’s disappointing because we don’t like losing football matches but it’s one of those things.

“That is what happens when you make changes, that’s what happens when you give people time.

"Sometimes you don’t get the result and disappointingly that is what happened.”

Jones admitted that it was always a risk making so many changes for the match against League Two opponents, especially playing a number of his squad out of position.

He continued: “We have a good group that work hard all the time.

"They don’t come off the gas so they are ready usually.

“We made 11 changes because there was a lot that needed the game.

“I had two defenders available really and then eight were attacking players.

“We had Henri Lansbury playing as a middle centre-half, we had two wide, creative players playing as wing-backs, so we knew we were taking a calculated gamble.

"I felt we did enough on the night to win the game, we had enough possession, chances, shots on target, but we just couldn’t defend the other end well enough to limit them to less than two goals.”

Despite the defeat, there is every chance that some of the players who were used in midweek will be featuring in Town’s Championship squad, particularly with such a punishing schedule ahead.

He added: “I think they are all going to get a run out, when you have eight games in a month, you’re going to get a run out.

“We’ve got a number of games now, in the next 20 days we’ve got seven games so we will get plenty of run out.”