Luton chief frustrated as Blackpool draw 'opens the door slightly' for Town's Championship play-off chasers

Hatters boss Nathan Jones was left with a tinge of frustration following Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Blackpool, admitting it ‘opens the door slightly’ for the chasing pack in the battle for the Championship play-off places.

With the result moving Town on to 72 points, it was enough to prevent Coventry and Swansea from being able to overtake Jones’ side, with QPR in the same boat following their 1-0 defeat at Stoke City later in the afternoon.

Draws for Millwall and Middlesbrough against Birmingham and Swansea respectively meant the pair could still catch Luton, along with Sheffield United, who saw off Cardiff City 1-0.

Blackburn’s 4-1 hammering of Preston North End on Monday lifted Tony Mowbray’s side to six points behind the Hatters with two games left, although tonight could see Middlesbrough fall too far behind, if they fail to defeat Cardiff at the Riverside Stadium.

The Blades are then in action on Friday evening, at QPR, before the Hatters will sit out the twists and turns on Saturday, as they head to Fulham on Monday evening, with the situation no doubt far clearer by then, Luton possibly having already done enough.

Speaking after his side were held by the Tangerines, Jones said: “That’s the disappointing thing, as it would have been very difficult for another three teams or four teams to peg us back on 74 points.

“Now it opens the door slightly, but they've still got to win games, everyone's probably got to win all the games and that’s without us picking up another point.

“So it's still very much in our hands.”

Although most Luton fans will have their eyes glued to the Boro fixture this evening, before keeping a check on Blackburn’s home match with Bournemouth at the weekend, plus Millwall’s game against Peterborough and depending on tonight’s result, Middlesbrough’s contest with Stoke, Jones is preferring to concentrate on what he and his players can affect.

The recently crowned Championship Manager of the Year continued: “Mathematically we don’t know what we need.

“We could need nothing, could need a point, could need three, three points absolutely does it, two points does it, but we can’t leave anything to chance.

“We’ve got two more games, we’ve got to concentrate on ourselves and then whatever happens with anyone else, we can’t be concerned with that.

“We’ve got to make sure we do our job and if we do that then it will be a successful year.”

One factor counting against the Hatters is an ever-growing injury list which now stands at 11 following duo Elijah Adebayo (hamstring) and Sonny Bradley (ankle) both going off at the weekend.

Giving his thoughts on just why Town are picking up so many problems, with James Shea (knee), Gabe Osho (hamstring) and Glen Rea (knee) all ruled out for the season, Jones added: “We get people back, we pick up an injury, it’s because they are giving absolutely everything.

“We are without the luxury of having the biggest, most talented squad, we have a very talented squad, a very hard working squad, but we know that to perform at the levels we are, and to win games, and we’ve won a lot of games this year and put in big shifts to compete with sides with bigger budgets and more established, illustrious players, then we know that we have to be at it for 90 minutes.

“We have and that inadvertently has caused us a few issues.

“We’ve been unfortunate with a few injuries that have been impact ones, while some (James Bree, Jordan Clark and Allan Campbell) have been terrible challenges that have gone unpunished, and that has cost us.

“But we’re still surviving, we’re still rolling, everyone will have to play their part and we know that.”