Jones urges Hatters to break their first half duck

Hatters boss Nathan Jones is hoping his side can finally break their duck of scoring in the first half at Kenilworth Road tomorrow afternoon.
Luton boss Nathan JonesLuton boss Nathan Jones
Luton boss Nathan Jones

The Luton chief is yet to see his side find the net in the opening 45 minutes on home soil since taking over, as Town have gone eight games without doing so, since Paul Benson notched against Northampton Town on December 12, almost four months ago.

Ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Accrington Stanley, Jones said: “I don’t really mind when we score, as long as we score at least one more than the opposition, but it has been (frustrating) and I don’t think its been for the want of trying, for the want of structure, or chances.

“Because apart from the Stevenage game, I think we’ve started games very, very well.

“We’re focused on the start, we want to get out of the blocks quick, get the crowd behind us and it would be nice to get an early goal.

“I’m not hung up on it but it would be nice as it would mean at half time we would get one more than in previous games.”

Despite a clear improvement in their style of play, scoring goals in general has been tough for Hatters under Jones, with the side failing to find the net in four home games, scoring just four times in seven matches.

Defender Alan Sheehan knows it has become something of an issue, as speaking after the 1-0 defeat to Stevenage, where he went closer than most, curling against the bar, he said: “I thought it was in, sometimes you need them to go in, but it hit underside of the bar and goes out.

“That kind of summed up our day and I probably would like to score one or two more before the end of the season, but I don’t really care about goals as long as we win.

“We haven’t been that clinical this season, we need a lot of chances to score.”

Although Jones is aware his side need to improve in front of goal against Accrington, he also knows they need to earn the right to be an attacking force, something that was missing badly last weekend.

He added: “We want to impose our game, we want to get back to us. That’s the disappointing thing from last Saturday, it was that we didn’t turn up our way, we didn’t press with any intensity, didn’t have an energy about us, didn’t have work-rate and that sadly let us down and cost us.

“No matter how good we think we are or what we can do in possession, fundamentals and your groundwork is built on your foundation, on your hard work and doing all the ugly side and the defensive disciplines.

“We didn’t do that well enough and that’s ultimately what cost us.”