Jones: I should have made changes on 25 minutes

Hatters boss lauds 'brilliant' second half display
Hatters boss Nathan JonesHatters boss Nathan Jones
Hatters boss Nathan Jones

Luton boss Nathan Jones conceded he should have made changes during the first half of yesterday’s sensational 3-2 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Kenilworth Road.

The Hatters chief had only made one alteration to his team from Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw against Millwall, Matty Pearson in for the injured skipper Sonny Bradley, but could only watch on helplessly from the sidelines as his team were being put to the sword by the struggling Owls.

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Behind on just six minutes to Josh Windass’s close range strike, Jones was constantly telling his bench to 'be ready' as Wednesday completely dominated, racking up 14 attempts on goal in the opening 45.

Luton couldn’t keep them out either, Windass netting again with a brilliant strike just before half time, as Jones made three substitutions for the second period, Glen Rea, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu and Harry Cornick all appearing, Joe Morrell, Martin Cranie and Tom Ince making way.

It worked a treat as Kal Naismith pulled one back early on, while Ryan Tunnicliffe made it 2-2 before the hour mark, leading up to Elijah Adebayo’s late winner with a towering header from Cornick's cross.

Speaking afterwards, Jones knew he had made a mistake in not changing things around earlier, as he said: “We had a lot of chances second half and the transformation was unbelievable.

“To be fair, I should have made subs on 25 minutes.

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"I knew on 25 minutes we would struggle to get to half time with just the one goal deficit, I knew it, and that’s my fault.

“I should have changed it then, I didn't, and that’s what probably caused us to go 2-0 down.

“But if we had got to grips with it in the first half a little bit more then maybe we wouldn't have had such a second half, so brilliant.

“There’s no stat now that we haven't come back from a losing position, as we have and what a great way to win the game, and especially after the tough week that we've had.

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“We’ve been beaten by Stroke, we've drawn with Millwall when we should have won the game, but what a great way to win the game.”

When asked if he had been worried about making the changes so early on would have affected those taken off, Jones continued: “I don’t mind upsetting people, I had a bit of that at my previous job when I was a bit thinking about upsetting a few people and at the end of the day it cost me my job.

“So at the end of the day I don't fear upsetting people, it’s just about making the right decisions.

“Do we play our way through that? And to be fair Josh Windass’s strike was world class for the second goal.

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“I’m delighted with the win, I don't want any negatives from it.

"We can look at the first half, look at the second but I know what we didn’t do first half.

"We looked men against boys, second half it was men against men and we had a real upturn second half.”