Hatters boss unhappy with his side's lack of desire after the break during Boro defeat

Hatters boss Nathan Jones was critical of his side’s start to the second half during last night’s 1-0 defeat at Middlesbrough.

After a first period that ended goalless, with Town coming closest to scoring through Sonny Bradley's close range attempt, the visitors were off the pace in the opening stages of the second period.

Crucially, they couldn’t keep their hosts out either, Marcus Tavernier driving forward and finding the run of Marvin Johnson, whose cross was turned home by Chuba Akpom for what turned out to be the only goal of the game with just seven minutes played.

Speaking afterwards, Jones said: “We came here to do a job, make sure it was tight because they started like a house on fire on the weekend and were two, three up (against Millwall) and the game was dead in 20 minutes.

“We didn’t want that to happen to us, so I thought we handled that excellently.

“There were very few chances, if we’d have had a bit more bravery we probably could have done a little bit more and that’s what I asked from them second half.

“I asked them for a bit more tempo but we didn't get it.

"We didn't start with any tempo, with any real desire to go and win a football game and then we got hit by a sucker punch and at Championship level you can’t.

“It came from nothing, came from our kick, we lost something, he ran through and then they broke.

"It wasn’t a good goal to give away, as it came out of absolutely nothing, but that’s sometimes the Championship, and then we’ve got to defend better than that.

"We even showed some naivety when we’ve got a load in the box, we take a short one and get broken on and almost concede again.

"So we’ve got to handle the games a little bit better and I would have liked the referee to do the same.”

After falling behind, Luton then had a glorious opportunity to draw level, winning a penalty on 66 minutes which saw Sam Morsy sent off for handling James Collins' shot.

Although the leading scorer then beat Marcus Bettinelli from the spot, his effort was eventually ruled out for a double contact by referee Andy Davies.

Jones threw on all five substitutes in the second half and although the visitors dominated possession, never looked like finding a way through until in stoppage time, Luke Berry's downward header drawing a stunning reflex save from Bettinelli.

The Hatters manager added: “We changed something and got straight back into it with the penalty which we should score.

"We should be 1-1 and then it's a different game as we're 1-1 with 10 men and we haven’t got to chase anything, we can control the game and just wait for one opportunity, but when you’re one down you've got to chase it a little bit and that was frustrating.

“They sat in so it was difficult to find space, but I had as many attacking players as I possibly could have brought on.

"We went to two systems, one to be centrally really penetrative, but didn’t, or we did because we got the penalty from it, but then when we did put it in there wasn’t enough quality.

"So it was just one of those games where it was forgettable, lessons to be learned.

“We’ve had chances, it could have been a different night, but you’ve got to score your penalty and James usually does.

"It’s frustrating that he didn’t and then to concede in the manner we did as that’s what I’m disappointed with.

"The first 10 minutes of the second half, we need to come out with more tempo and we didn’t.

"If we’d have done that we might have got something out of the game, or at least we wouldn't have conceded.”