Jones labels Luton defender Lockyer as 'outstanding' after Welsh international stars in Carrow Road triumph

Hatters boss Nathan Jones described Tom Lockyer’s performance as ‘outstanding’ as the defender was key to Luton picking up a brilliant 1-0 victory at one of the Championship’s promotion favourites in Norwich City last night.

Tasked with keeping usually lethal striker Teemu Pukki quiet, the Finnish international scoring 29 and 26 goals in his last two seasons in the second tier, on four already this term, the centre half did just that.

Pukki did go close in the first half when taking advantage of mix-up in Luton’s back-line, only to blast over, while his best moment came after Town had taken the lead through Carlton Morris, turning sub Sonny Bradley only to curl wide of the target.

As he so often does, the Welsh international, who surely must be in contention for a place in Robert Page’s World Cup squad now, then bravely and crucially, threw himself in the way of a late Max Aaron’s blast to divert it over the top.

After struggling to break into the team at the start of the season, Lockyer has begun the last six matches and 10 from 11, in his best spell of form since arriving from Charlton in the summer of 2020, swiftly becoming a real crowd favourite with the Luton support.

One thing that is becoming a theme is for the defender to take on the main threat of an opposition side head on too, and come out on top, as he has done Pukki, plus Ben Brereton Diaz (Blackburn), Brandon Thomas-Asante (West Bromwich Albion) and Oscar Estupinan (Hull City) in recent weeks, Luton not being breached in any of the matches.

It has seen the Hatters keep four clean sheets in their last six matches, as on Lockyer’s efforts last night, Jones said: “I thought he was absolutely outstanding.

“To keep Teemu Pukki as quiet as he did shows that he’s had a wonderful game and I really think he did.

“He’s in a good place and he’s aggressive, he knows what he has to do.

“If he does the basics right then he defends well and I’m really, really pleased with him, I really am.”

With Lockyer in such stellar form at Carrow Road, then supported by the rest of the Town side, who turned in a magnificent defensive display, it meant keeper Ethan Horvath only had two saves to make, both of them coming from range.

Jones continued: “These will have better chances than they did today at Premier League level.

“They will play Premier League sides and have more chances than they did, so we had to show a different side to our game and we can do that.

“To win games in the Championship, you’ve got to be able to do the basics, the ugly side of stuff and especially when you come away.

“Second game in three days, at a side that’s possession based, the other side (QPR) on Saturday were possession based, so we’ve had to come and show we’re defensively sound.

“To only concede one and that was an injury time fortunate goal that we could have defended that better, so to limit two real good attacking sides to minimal efforts on target shows that as a unit we are an outstanding unit.”

The efforts of Lockyer and his fellow defenders certainly got the seal of approval from match-winner Morris too, who said: “Breesy (James Bree), Locks and Pottsy (Dan Potts) at the back were outstanding, best players on the pitch for me.

“That’s a strike force that could do it at any level and they've kept them to nothing at all today.”

Lockyer was also involved in one of the major talking points in the second half, as grappling with Kenny McLean when defending a corner, he was floored by the home player delivering a slap to the side of his head as the ball came in.

It led to the centre-half earning jeers from the home support for the rest of the contest, which he clearly relished, giving them a broad smile when coming to take a throw-in, as on the incident, Jones added: “It’s a sending off, you watch it back and it’s a sending off.

“I’ve got no worries about that, it’s not for me to comment, it’s not my player and as long as my player’s okay I don’t mind.

“If my player had done it I’d be angry, so for me, it’s a sending off, but don’t worry.”