Bradley lauds Town's reaction after bouncing back from QPR defeat by beating Bournemouth

Town defender Sonny Bradley wasn't surprised with the reaction that he and the players gave during their 1-0 win at title-challenging Bournemouth on Saturday.

Luton went into the game on the back of a disappointing performance and 2-0 defeat to QPR on Tuesday night, ending their proud almost three-year league unbeaten run under the lights at Kenilworth Road.

That made them even bigger underdogs heading to the Vitality Stadium, where the Cherries had only lost once all season, the top scorers in the division too.

However, after home midfielder Jefferson Lerma was sent off midway through the first half for a catching Tom Lockyer with a flailing arm, a decision that has since been overturned, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s 67th minute goal was enough to secure a stunning win.

Bradley had been expecting a response from the players selected by boss Nathan Jones, as he said: “It’s massively important that we showed a reaction and this group of players, I expected it.

“Obviously it’s a difficult game, these were in the Premier League last season, we knew it was going to be a difficult game and it doesn’t get much tougher than this in the Championship.

“But we were due a reaction as midweek wasn’t good enough, we know that, and when you’re not good enough at this level, if you’re off it, then you’ll get punished and that’s exactly what happened.

“We went back to the drawing board, went back to basics, worked on things, didn't have much time, which no-one does, that’s not an excuse, but the gaffer put a plan together, the boys believed in it.

“We set our stall our early, we gave them territory at times, but when the time was right we got after them and won the ball back in some good areas and had some half chances which we probably could have done better from.

“Of course red cards change games, we know that, and it did, I still think in their mindset, it didn't change much, they still had a full press on which I was quite surprised about really.

“We just had to be patient, we knew it was going to take time to break them down and early in the second half, we could have had a couple and then we got the goal.

“Kiernan gets the goal, he’s been outstanding for us the past two months, so I’m really proud of the performance we put in, hopefully we can build on that and take that to Brentford.”

Town went into the game with just one change from the midweek defeat, Luke Berry replacing Kazenga LuaLua who dropped to the bench.

Some fans had been calling for more alterations ahead of kick-off, but on why he stuck with largely the same 11, Jones continued: “We weren’t ourselves in midweek, but we’d had a 10 day break, we hadn’t played in a long time, we had no rhythm, we didn't play with the energy we normally do, so it was understandable.

"I only made one change as we want to get in rhythm, get them into a rhythm and get them used to playing together.

"Sometimes that's harsh on people as I've been at clubs where if you're not in the 11, it doesn't really bother you that much, but here we've got such an honest, hard-working, humble, desirable group that want to do well.

"Yes we lack a bit of top end quality like these have got, but we've got such a group that wants to play, that wants to drive, that wants to push boundaries and that’s how we will be able to compete at this level, with that collective strength."