Luton boss confident Town have the tools to avoid another final day relegation decider

Luton chief Nathan Jones is confident his side have the tools to progress in the Championship this season rather than be involved in another relegation battle.

The Hatters survived by the skin of their teeth last term, as when the season resumed following lockdown, they took 16 points from a possible 27 to stay up on the final day of the campaign by beating Blackburn Rovers.

That was thanks largely to Jones, who took over when the campaign was suspended, and masterminded the Great Escape, with Luton winning four, drawing four and losing just one of their nine games.

However, it’s not something he wants to go through again and having added Jordan Clark, Tom Lockyer, James Bree and Rhys Norrington-Davies to the squad, while retaining Glen Rea, Luke Berry, Kazenga LuaLua, Elliot Lee and Danny Hylton on new contracts, he feels that is distinctly achievable.

Jones said: “Of course and that is the goal, we don’t want to be in the same position we were in.

“We’ve had a year of learning at Championship level, we have had a year of succeeding in terms of, in all fairness to the last manager, the last 15 games, we really got to grips with Championship football and had excellent results, pre my arrival and also after.

“There is belief in the squad and I said that we don’t want to be in the same position.

"We believe we are not because we believe we are better prepared on every level so we want to make sure that we achieve more.”

Although there has been a short turnaround since the 2019-20 season ended on July 22 and the current one which starts today with a Carabao Cup first round clash against Norwich City, there is still plenty of excitement within Town’s squad according to the Hatters manager.

He added: “Of course, we have gone away, had a couple of weeks and we believe we are in a much better place than where we were.

“The end of last season we finished well and we’re in a better position squad wise, fitness wise and everything so there is a real excitement about us.

"Now we have to build it up and make sure that we get points on the board and that we are not in a final game survival bid like we were last year.

“That’s why we have to make sure that we start well and we are not playing catch-up with teams.

"It’s an exciting time, we believe we are in a better place which is the main thing.”