Hatters chief keen to learn similar lessons from Chelsea defeat to those picked up when watching Northampton lift the League Two title

Luton boss Nathan Jones believes that both he and his players can learn similar lessons from their FA Cup defeat at Premier League giants Chelsea to those they picked up when witnessing Northampton Town crowned League Two champions back in April 2016.

That day, the Hatters side, containing Dan Potts, Glen Rea and Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, went down 2-0 to a dominant Cobblers team, with current Town striker James Collins coming off the bench, who had romped to the League Two title by 13 points.

Luton finished in 11th place that term, and addressing the press afterwards, Jones, who had been installed as manager in January that year, spoke of the need to be more like their hosts if they wanted to win promotion themselves in the future.

They did just that, going through League Two and then League One at the first attempt, before staying in the Championship last season, Jones returning from a disappointing spell at Stoke City to lead the club to safety.

Closing in on almost five years later, and although the opposition was a massive step-up in class this time, the Town boss was keen to take the same kind of mentality switch away after watching Blues side with five top flight titles to their name since the sides last met in 1994, up close and personal.

Remembering that day at Sixfields, he said: "That’s what we said, at that time it was the next goal.

"We needed to put a team out there and without being disrespectful, we probably had a team that was in the end more fluent than that Northampton team.

"But Chris Wilder had a great side and showed what was needed to get out of that league.

"We did that, and with a wonderful way of playing, so we used that, it was just the work-rate, the organisation, the desire to do well and that’s what helped us.

"Then we knew we had a team that could get out of League One and we did that, we already knew that was in place.

"Now we’re at Championship level, and to get a side that competes regularly, we knew what we had to do and we’ve done that.

"Now if we want to get to the next level, we won’t be competing with Chelsea for a number of years as realistically they must have 500 million in that squad.

"We’re not going to get that for a little while regardless with what happens with the stadium (Power Court).

"But for us to get through this level we’re in then this day will stand us in good stead in terms of what we need to do with the athleticism, the way they moved the ball, all these are things for us to do.

"As we want to get better, we want to get better at our level and start to cause teams problems at our level.

"If we do that and we take the positives from this and the learning curve from this then we will become a better side we really will, and we will gain even more points than what we have now."

Jones has often spoken of his desire to make trips to Stamford Bridge a regular occurrence, as did his players during the build-up to their fourth round tie.

However he knows a dose of realism is needed before that will become that will ever become a reality, adding: "Let’s not get carried away, these have won the Premier League twice in the last 10 years, that’s a top, top, top, top level of player.

"We stabilised last year, and now we want to push boundaries at this level and finish as high as we can, then we regroup and build again.

"Now we’re at that stage, these are all learning curves for us, this is not a realistic goal in the short term.

"Chelsea have a multimillionaire who can finance certain stuff.

"They have a level of player in the building that we won’t be able to attract for a while.

"Ultimately that’s the end goal, but right now it’s a learning curve for us.

"We had moments you’re not going to dominate play, you’re not going to dominate chances against Chelsea, not us at this point in time.

"But when we had those moments, we needed to take those moments.

"Right before half time, we had a great chance with a (Harry Cornick) header and then on 60 minutes we had a wonderful chance as well (Cornick denied by Kepa).

"It’s just a little bit belief, it’s belief we’re lacking as the first time we did get it down, strung nine, 10 passes together, we scored a goal.

"Every time we did break the press we got in at their back four, and then it's about quality, we crossed it so many times into the keeper’s hands or we hit the first man, or with Harry’s chance.

"We could have been a little bit more clinical, but look, there'll be Premier League sides who will come here and concede more than we did, take more of a beating than we did.

"So I’m not happy with the result, but overall I know this will stand us in good stead for what we want to achieve this year.

"It could have put a different outcome, but I’m not sitting here saying we should have won the game.

"We’ve given a real good account of ourselves and we’ve gone toe-to-toe with a Champions League team.

"That gives me real, real pleasure and real heart because I know that whatever I ask this group to do, they do."

Although disappointed to go out of the competition, Jones was pleased to have no further distractions for their league campaign, as they head to Blackburn Rovers this weekend, sitting 13th in the table, nine points adrift of the play-offs and 10 above the drop zone.

He added: "With all respect, a cup run would really hinder what we need to do as we would need to rearrange games and so on.,

"Now we’ve had a wonderful game against Chelsea, tested ourselves, we will learn from this and it will stand us in good stead for what we want to achieve in the league."