Hatters defender Bree: We wanted to shock the league this season

Luton defender James Bree wants his side to continue with their attempts to 'shock the league' this season, as they hunt a top half finish in the Championship.

Following on from the previous campaign, where the Hatters avoided relegation back to League One on the final day with a 3-2 win over Blackburn Rovers, there have been no such issues this term, Town well clear of the drop zone.

Tuesday night's 2-0 win over Coventry widened the gap to 15 points as Luton moved to 14th in the table and are two points off 10th-placed Milwall.

If Nathan Jones' men could end up 10th, it would equal their best ever league finish since the 2005-06 season, as on their ambitions going into the new term, Bree said: “It’s unbelievable, I think we’ve done really well to get in the position that we’re in.

"I think it was inevitable really, the group of lads that we’ve got, it’s such a good, tight group and we’ve got some really good players.

"As soon as we came back in pre-season, when I signed, everyone just said 'let's shock the league, let's see what we can do.'

"We fell off a little bit mid-season, so the play-offs are a little bit out of the picture which was the overall aim, but I think being 15 points ahead of where we were last year is a big step for us and we’ll just continue to grow."

Town have a real chance of making the 50-point target, which usually guarantees safety in the Championship, when they head to an out of form Preston side this afternoon who have dropped down the table in recent weeks.

After claiming three points from six going into the encounter, Bree added: "With the situation that we’re in, we’re just looking up to see where we can finish.

"The relegation zone seems far away, we don’t want to say we’re safe yet, we’ll keep playing and see how far we can go.

“This week we just want to pick up as many points as possible going into the international break, so when we get back we can be quite comfortable and play our football.

"Every game’s a big game, so we’re just going into it with the same mindset and hopefully get the three points."