Pearson hopes Luton squad stays together during transfer window

With half the season now gone, Luton find themselves second in the division, ahead of clubs such as Sunderland and Barnsley, with a real chance of going up for the second successive campaign.

The form of certain individuals is bound to attract some interest from clubs elsewhere, although manager Nathan Jones has already stated he isn’t looking to sell anyone, a view which was echoed by Pearson.

He said: “Definitely, I think we’ve got some players in this team that are doing really well at the minute.

“Lets keep this squad together and hopefully see what happens come May.”

Town stayed in second spot on New Year’s Day with a creditable 0-0 draw against fourth placed Barnsley at Kenilworth Road.

Although he felt it was a fair reflection of the game, Pearson wasn’t looking to settle for picking up a point.

He continued: “I think if you look at it on paper, we've had some tough games, especially this one, it is a good return, but we always want better.

"Last month when we were winning every game and on a run, everyone thinks you can win every game.

"We’ve got lads coming off gutted that we're drawing games, feeling like we’ve lost and that’s what we want.

"We want to win every game, we don’t want to be drawing games, we want to win.”

Town had a number of set-pieces during their clash with the Tykes, although Pearson and his team-mates were unable to make the most of James Justin’s deliveries.

The defender said: ““That’s probably the frustrating thing for me, set-pieces, we could have maybe capitalised, but it’s one of them.

"Sometimes you get a bit of luck and sometimes they don’t go in. Today was one of them, it just didn’t seem to fall for us.

“Keeping that unbeaten run is important though, we know they’re a good team, and it was a good game for the neutral.

“As the game went on, it went end-to-end, we're both counter attacking teams and you could see how many chances were going at either end."

Up against his former side there, there was no point to prove for Pearson, who left Oakwell to join Luton in the summer, or his team-mate Elliot Lee, another ex-Barnsley player.

The fans favourite was satisfied to keep yet another clean sheet, the club's 11th in the league this season, as they have now conceded just five goals in their last 11 games.

Pearson added: “It was just business as usual, obviously I know a few faces, but you’re only focused on your job, the same with El.

"I think he was focused on his job and we did a pretty good job, a clean sheet, that’s a bonus, as we put in a good performance, just didn’t get the luck of the bounce to go in.

“If you have a poor defence, you won’t get anywhere.

"If you’ve got a solid foundation which we have, we can build from that, and we are doing that.

"We’ve got the players, especially with our attacking players, they can go and do what they need to do with that reassurance that we’ve got it covered.”