Jones knows Luton must improve against set-pieces

Town boss Nathan Jones is well aware that his side need to improve their recent inability to defend set-pieces, and quickly.

The Hatters found themselves 2-0 behind against Birmingham City on Saturday, both goals scored from close-range headers, the first a simple corner routine that allowed Marc Roberts to net.

It was similar to the 3-2 defeat at West Bromwich Albion the weekend before, when the Baggies bombarded the Luton area from corners and throw-ins, scoring twice.

Although Town kept a clean sheet at Barnsley in a 1-0 victory, having now been breached eight times in just four matches, Jones said: “Some days you can have those, but there’s a little bit of a theme from the two teams we’ve played against, West Brom and Birmingham, that we’ve conceded four from set-plays and that can’t be healthy.

“We were categorically different in midweek, we were excellent, probably near enough broke an EFL record with the amount of tackles.

“Today we did not do the basics well, our set-up looked poor, we didn’t have enough work-rate, we didn’t have enough energy about us, we weren’t a threat.

“Ironically we probably created three or four really good chances that we could have scored from, but you don’t concede five at home.

“We did exactly the same at West Brom last week, concede two before half time and then you’re kind of chasing the game.

"Then you concede one out of absolutely nothing, and that’s what happened as we lose it on the edge of their box, you can’t really fathom for that and all over we were second best.

“So credit to Birmingham, they deserved their win, but we allowed them to be that much better than us with the ineptitude of our performance.”