Sacrifices pay off as the Hatters hit five

Town go close to an opening goal at Swindon yesterday

The players headed to Kenilworth Road during the afternoon of the 25th, before making the trip to Wiltshire to ensure their preparation for the clash was like a usual away game.

It worked wonders too as a second half pummeling saw Luton equal their best ever away day win in the Football League and remain four points clear at the top of the table.

Collins said: “It’s a great day at the office for everyone involved at the club.

“We were in yesterday and we sacrificed a bit of our family time for the game and it certainly paid off because I thought second half we were outstanding.”

Town boss Nathan Jones felt the decision was the right one too, given the quality of the performance after the interval.

He continued: “It’s an important time Christmas, it really is as they give up so much and we ask them to give up so much and they do.

“Their families are there for them and sacrifice a lot for them, but promotion’s important, so it’s another step towards that and that’s what we have to try and do.

“We got them in because it was the right thing to do physiologically. They did, they came in, they trained well yesterday and they had a bit of fun as well, just to get it out of their legs.

“We came down here, got the journey out of the legs and I think actually, if we do it like we did, with such a short journey, it's probably better than being at home as then they stay at home, do their journey on the morning of the game.

“So it worked out well and they showed they had fresh legs, then when we brought the others on we showed we were on the front foot and I’m proud of them today.“

On whether equalling their best away day success at both Exeter (1967/68) and Colchester (2002/03) had entered his thoughts, Jones added: "Not really, it’s three points, we’ve gone another point further away from fourth place which is good, we’ve extended the goal difference, we’ve shown away from home that we’re a fantastic side, we really are.

"That's the only thing. Anything else is a bonus. I don't look at those things, it's nice to win the games in such a convincing fashion as second half we turned up, we really did."