Jones insists Luton should 'categorically' have taken more points from their opening 10 Championship fixtures

Luton manager Nathan Jones insists his side should be far better off than they are in the Championship table following the opening 10 games of the season.

The Hatters head to Hull City this evening, sitting in 11th place after three wins, four draws and three defeats has earned them a total of 13 points.

It is exactly the same return as last term, although Town found themselves two places higher in ninth, eventually going on to reach the second tier play-offs.

This time around, three draws from their opening six matches at home has frustrated Jones, who said: “We should be better off in terms of points, categorically, but we have to prove that.

“Regardless of how we played, how the game went (against Coventry), it’s a stonewall penalty that’s quite scandalous that we should have and God willing we score the penalty, we win the game.

“Sheffield United, we were wonderful here, they should not have had a goal and it might have been different, so we should be higher than where we are.

“Blackburn have played 10, won five, lost five, so we’ve been slightly more consistent in terms of our performances, but we don’t worry about Blackburn.

“Our two best performances here have been Sheffield United and Blackburn.

"Sheffield United are top of the league and rightly so as they have the best squad in the league, comfortably and Blackburn are a fantastic side.

“They’ve signed players, got good players, got a lot of firepower, got the probably most marketed centre forward, left winger in Chilean history, so it’s mad.

“Against Wigan, we had the same amount of chances and didn’t do it, Birmingham we were categorically better, so we’ve stuttered a little bit at home, but we’re difficult to play against at home.”

Despite not having as many points as he would have liked, Jones has been happy with the displays he has been witnessing from his side on the field, as he continued: “I won’t be coy, our performances and our levels, you look at the xG (expected goals) table and we’re fifth on everything, defensively, attacking-wise.

"So we’ve been in good form, but so have people like Middlesbrough, they’ve been right up there as well, but haven’t quite got the points they should have.

“So that table doesn’t tell you anything, for a short period of time you’re doing the right thing and the results will come.

“That’s what we got the other day, the result was excellent, performance was excellent, especially second half.

“We limited a real, real good Blackburn side to one opportunity really early and half an opportunity late on.

"Apart from that, I thought we were excellent and with a little bit more clinical edge could have had more.

"It does relieve things though and make the two week break that little bit more enjoyable.”

Heading to the MKM Stadium tonight, Hatters will travel with a virtually full strength squad for the first time this season, with Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu making the trip after his hour for the Drvelopment squad in Tuesday night’s 3-2 win over QPR U21s.

With midfielder Luke Berry also playing the first half, Jones said: “We’re in a good position, we’re happy, we’ve had a good couple of weeks leading into the international break, so we want to come out of it strong.

“We had Pelly, we had Berry and we had (Louie) Watson all had a good run-out.

"It was a good game against a young and athletic QPR side, so we’re delighted.

“Pelly has had two games now, so has Luke, so has Louie, we just need to get minutes into them as Pelly has been out five months now, so it’s a long time.”

There was also good news regarding the trio of Alfie Doughty, Harry Cornick and Elijah Adebayo, as Jones added: “He (Doughty) didn’t need (game-time) as much, we trained him hard and we feel that Alfie is ahead of the others, well not Louie, as Louie hasn't been injured, the other two.

“Alfie is ahead of those in terms of game readiness, so he’s fully fit.

“They’re (Cornick and Adebayo) good, really good, back in training, so available too.”