Luton boss not impressed by Lockyer's 'silly' lack of discipline during incident with Lilywhites skipper Browne

Luton boss Nathan Jones wasn’t impressed by defender Tom Lockyer’s ‘silly’ display of petulance which might have left the Hatters down to 10 men in the first half at Preston on Saturday.

With Town trailing 1-0 at Deepdale, Lockyer was tackled by a sliding Lilywhites skipper Alan Browne, but took umbrage with the challenge, shoving his opponent to the floor.

The Welsh international then had to be pulled away by his team-mates, clearly incensed by something that had gone on, with both players receiving a booking from referee Dean Whitestone for their troubles.

On the incident, Jones said: “He might have been frustrated with the challenge as that’s the day.

"Alan Browne was right at it and clever, he’s a good Championship player and we warned them of Preston as I like Preston.

"I’ve watched Preston for years, with (Ben) Pearson, Browne, (Daniel) Johnson, they've had a real good midfield, and nous and cleverness and quality.

"So we said beware of them, as they might be not having a great moment at the minute, but good players will come back and we warned them about that.

"The fact he’s got petulant as he’s been left a bit on, he could have got sent off for that, so it's a lack of discipline.

"I don’t know what you’re going to achieve by pushing someone, you’re just giving the referee a decision and getting the crowd going.

"So it’s silly, but that was symptomatic of our performance today.

"I was really disappointed, we weren’t front-footed and the goals were poor goals to give away as we didn’t do the basics right.

"Yes the goals were avoidable, but Preston were better than us.”