Sitting third in the Championship is a 'utopia' moment for Town boss Jones

Climbing up to third in the Championship table at the weekend was a ‘utopia’ moment for the Hatters according to boss Nathan Jones.

The Luton chief saw his side reach their lofty position after securing a 12th win in 18 second tier encounters matches at Hull on Saturday, goals from Elijah Adebayo, Harry Cornick and James Bree sealing a 3-1 triumph.

It saw Town, who had started the afternoon in sixth place, go back above Sheffield United, the Blades beating Barnsley 2-0 earlier in the day, plus Blackburn Rovers, who lost 1-0 at Reading, and also Huddersfield following their 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth.

Back at the start of the season, the odds on Luton featuring in the shake-up for a place in the Premier League would have been slim, but with a play-off spot now in their grasp, and automatic promotion still not beyond them, Jones said: “That’s utopia.

“Anyone who said to any realistic fan that Luton with eight games to go would be third in the Championship, there would be a lot of laughing going on, but our numbers back up everything that we do.

“We should have been ahead as Harry’s had a chance sooner than that (Adebayo’s goal).

"We want to come out of the blocks as once we get in front, we’re very difficult to peg back and to play against.

“I can’t honestly say enough about them as they just go about it, they roll with the punches.

“It’s a makeshift thing, people come in, they do jobs, score goals, we’re a decent side to watch as we work hard, we score goals, we get points.

“We’re not quite Fulham, but we don't want to be Fulham, as I said before, we like being Luton and we're very good at being Luton.”

When asked if he had looked at the table to see Luton up into third spot, goalscorer Bree continued: “The lads have been saying, I’ll have a look when we're on the coach, but it’s an unbelievable feeling.

“It’s just nice that we've finally made that jump.

"The last few games, the Middlesbrough game and the QPR game where we could have made those big leaps in there, and we couldn't quite do it.

"So I think today was the day where we just, ‘right, lets knuckle down, lets win this game that puts us in a really good position.’

“We came here, we just knew we had to get three points.

"The gaffer said just do anything to win, but I think we've done more than that.

"We cruised through the game really, Eli scoring the first, set up Corns’ second really well and then I’ve nipped in with a goal at the end to make it three."