Luton chief proud of makeshift back three for digging in to keep clean sheet against Reading

Luton boss Nathan Jones heaped praise on his side’s makeshift back three after they managed to hold on for a clean sheet during the latter stages of last night’s goalless draw against Reading.

The Hatters had started with Tom Lockyer, Sonny Bradley and Dan Potts in their normal positions, before Bradley was stretchered off after 33 minutes when landing awkwardly following an aerial challenge with a knee injury.

That saw James Bree drop into the back three and Lockyer slot into the centre, but after the break, Luton were then hindered even further, Lockyer having to go off after a clash of heads with experienced forward Andy Carroll.

Forced into another reshuffle, Jones moved Amari’i Bell to the left-sided centre half role, Potts in the middle and Bree to the right, as Harry Cornick dropped to right wingback, Alfie Doughty on the left.

With the Royals possessing the imposing Carroll upfront, plus Yakou Meite and then Shane Long on for the final quarter of an hour, Town managed to batten down the hatches, Ethan Horvath with an acrobatic save from ex-Hatter Tom Ince’s volley, while Long and fellow sub Tyrese Fornah were narrowly wide late on.

The match saw Luton make it seven games that they haven’t been breached in this season, as Jones said of the rearguard efforts: “Absolutely brilliant and we had to defend set-plays when they put it in the box.

“They’re far bigger than us, everyone had to put in a shift, everyone.

"Cameron Jerome when he came on was excellent, and Pottsy when he goes in there, Bree when he goes in there, Harry Cornick, Amari’i, they all had to put in real, real shifts.

“That’s what they give to this football club and that’s what I’m proud of.

“It’s probably the quickest back five you’ll see but not the biggest, but they’ve had to defend, because they put balls in your box.

“Andy Carroll is one of the best in the Premier League at attacking the ball, it was a real, real tough game as we had to defend our box with everything.

“We’ve got all our centre halves out again, reminiscent of last year, and they’ve had to really dig in and I’m proud of that performance in terms of the defensive side.

"We’ve never played with a back five like that before, they’re putting in mad shifts and I’m so proud of them for that.

“To keep a clean sheet in the Championship, another clean sheet in the Championship shows we’re a good defensive unit and we can do that.”

Although it was never a game that will register in the memory banks of the near 10,000 supporters who were in attendance, Jones was satisfied to see his side add to their points tally once more, as he continued: “It was a hard fought point, it was a bit of a robust Championship game and I thought we stood up to that.

“We started really well, had some real good situations, a couple of opportunities, but we just never demonstrated enough quality tonight.

“It was a tough, tough game, Reading are tough to play against.

"They sit in, they've got big, strong lads, are direct, they play at their tempo, we tried to create our tempo, but a real, real tough game.

“The game lacked a bit of quality, a lot of brawn and lacked a little bit of guile, but we take every point we can.”

Town were never quite at their best when being held to their sixth home draw from 10 games this term, but they still had chances, particularly in the opening 20 minutes, as they tested Royals keeper Joe Lumley twice, with Cornick putting a decent opportunity wide.

Potts then volleyed off target late on, as Jones added: “Eli had a chance, the keeper made a good save.

“Harry Cornick’s had a good chance, Alfie Doughty from a midfield area, so we started really well, started positively, it was just difficult to get any tempo tonight.

“They being the away side played at their tempo and no problem with that.

"We tried to generate tempo and that’s what is a bit more difficult at home, but we didn’t show the levels of quality we normally do, we didn’t play with real fluency.”