Hatters chief relieved to see Luton turn the tables as early second half goals seal Blackburn victory

Luton boss Nathan Jones was relieved his side were finally able to turn the tables when recording a first home victory of the season by beating Blackburn Rovers 2-0 last weekend.

Going into the fixture, Hatters hadn’t managed to score in the second half of a game at Kenilworth Road this term, all of their previous four goals coming in the opening 45 minutes.

That meant their record in the opening 15 minutes after the interval anywhere was also a concern, only managing to find the net once in nine matches, when Luke Freeman converted Fred Onyedinma’s cross to put Town on the way to a 2-1 win at Cardiff City last month.

Following a first half on Saturday in which the visitors had plenty of possession, showing a real determination to play out from the back at all costs, although not overly testing Ethan Horvath bar one effort that required clearing off the line from Dany Potts, this time the second period was different.

With Rovers continuing steadfastly with their approach no matter what, even though it played right into Luton’s hands, Jones’ side pressing high, beginning to consistently win the ball back and forcing a number of errors from their opponents as well.

It led to the opening goal too, Tom Lockyer’s endeavour producing a mistake, as Amari’i Bell moved forward to find Jordan Clark who crossed for Carlton Morris to volley home with 13 minutes of the second half played, ending Town’s wait to find the net ahead of the hour mark.

Then Reece Burke picked up a loose ball inside enemy territory to burst forward and curl in a wonderful second goal on 68 minutes, as Jones said of his team’s apparent extra intensity: “We’re always on that quickly, you’ve got to wear teams down though.

"You have to really be in it and the crowd were better, we scored and then they really got behind us, but that’s how we play, that’s how we do stuff when we’re at it.

"Now we’re gathering a bit of momentum, sometimes it’s difficult.

"There’s no God-given right to win a football game and we’ve done really, really well.

"Yes we stepped on it, we were also conscious we haven’t scored in the second half and first 15 minutes we’re one of the worst in the league for doing that.

"We wanted to correct that, we did that and we turned the tables as it was.”