Hatters boss not hyping up Owls clash but knows Luton must get back to winning ways

Luton boss Nathan Jones won’t be hyping up this afternoon’s home clash against relegation threatened Sheffield Wednesday at Kenilworth Road, although is aware his side need to get back to winning ways again.

The Hatters have the chance to complete a first double of the season having triumphed 1-0 at Hillsborough back in October and pull further clear of the drop zone themselves.

A first victory at home since the turn of the year could propel Jones’ side up to 13th in the table, while extending the gap between themselves and the Owls to 13 points, which with 14 games to come following the contest is a more than healthy advantage.

However, Jones wasn’t putting too much emphasis on beating an opponent who have lost the last three games without scoring, as he said: “We need to get a result because we need to get a result.

“Performances have been decent but points have been a bit sporadic lately.

“It is an important game because we want to win the game, we want to get to a points tally so we are beyond approach in everything and then we can move forward.

“It is as important game as anyone, as the Cardiff game, as the Millwall game.

“We could have gone closer to Millwall (after drawing 1-1 on Tuesday night), that is the disappointing thing, we could have got closer to Millwall who would have had play-off aspirations this year.

“We could have gone above teams that have play-off aspirations and that is the thing, that is what we have to eradicate because we went away to Blackburn and we should have got a point – comfortably.

“We should have got three the other day, against Middlesbrough minimum we should have taken a point.

“These are the games we deserved to win or get something from, not could have nicked something because we haven’t played well and have nicked it.

"If we did that, we’d be 45,46,47 points now.

“That is really close to the play-offs and that is what we haven’t done."

Although Luton have stalled somewhat recently, with just one win in their last seven Championship encounters, suffering four defeats too, they are still in a far better place than they were at the same stage last term, nine points adrift of safety and seemingly destined for League One.

It was something Jones was keen to draw attention to, adding: "We are 14 points better off than this point last year, so if we manage to finish the season like we did from this point on then it would be a magnificent position because prior to me coming in, we picked up 11 points in 18 I think and then we picked up 16 out of 27.

“If we can finish like we did last year then we are in for a wonderful end to the season but we are 14 points better off than we were so it shows we are progressing."