Luton winger 'enjoying' his football again after recall to Town's back-line
Jones earns back-to-back starts against Leicester and Doncaster
Hatters winger Izzy Jones admitted he is ‘enjoying’ his football again once more after earning a recall to the side following a spell on the bench.
The 27-year-old had begun the campaign in the starting XI, as boss Jack Wilshere utilised the Guyana international either as a full back, or, when he decided to alter his system, occasionally at wingback. However, settling on a back four again, Jones came out of the side following the 2-1 defeat at Stevenage, and was then amongst the substitutes for the next four matches, as the Town chief strived for consistency in his team, which included Hakeem Odoffin playing out of position on the right of the defence.
An injury to the centre half during the 2-1 win over Barnsley saw Jones get his chance late in the first half, and after a fine individual display as Town bounced back from their disappointment of losing at MK Dons, he remained in the side for the victories over Leicester City and Doncaster Rovers. Both matches have seen the former Middlesbrough attacker catch the eye with some forays forward, but more importantly, his defensive duties have impressed, tough to get past and often unfurling some committed sliding tackles that supporters have lapped up.
On his recent displays, and the midweek triumph, Jones, speaking to BBC Three Counties Radio, said: “I’m enjoying my football at the moment. Whoever plays right back and whoever plays in any position, we all want the same goal, which is to win games. Everyone’s putting in a shift, the boys that played three games in a week put in a massive shift. We were trying to get a clean sheet, it wasn't meant to be, but we go again.
"Maybe we could have stopped the cross which caused the goal, it's minor details. We maybe switched off a little bit, but sometimes it happens, you have to make sure next game it doesn't happen and you get a clean sheet. Out of the last three games we’ve had, this has probably been the hardest game, as they gave us a different test physically.
"Mentally we've been in a good place and like the gaffer said, we’ve got to keep working on the training pitch and carry on this good run. It was a good performance. What we’ve been working on in training came out, being brave and being good on the ball and it shows with the goals we scored and long may it continue.”
Town’s upturn in form has come at just the right time too as there were beginning to be some discerning voices from supporters after defeats at Stevenage and MK Dons, with Luton sitting way below where they expected to be in the table. Thankfully they are now starting to show the class that Jones and his team-mates are more than aware is within the squad, as he continued: "We know what we put ourselves into the last couple of weeks hasn't been good enough, but the last three games we’ve shown what we can do and get the fans back onside.
"We ended the season well, but the division gets better every year. Maybe we thought we’d continue the form into this season. It hasn’t gone our way, but we looked like we’ve turned a corner as a team. Mentally we’re in a better place, we’re getting on the ball, we’re taking risks, getting the ball from back to front as quickly as possible and it’s helping us get three points and all the goals showed that.
"We’ve got so much quality in our team, even the players we have missing through injury. We have got depth to our squad that anyone can play. It all starts on the training ground, we push each other each every day and try to get the best out of everyone. It’s showing in the games we’re playing.”
Having won their last three home matches, one thing that Jones knows he and the rest of his side have to do is transfer that kind of form outside of Bedfordshire, particularly when heading to struggling Peterborough this afternoon, adding: “We’ve got to take it a game at time and keep moving forward. We’re in a good place now. We know last year our away record wasn’t the best, we want to make sure we get more points on the road this year. We did well at Wycombe, not the best at MK, but hopefully we can put it right this Saturday and get three points.”