Jones ready for Luton's 'monumental' clash with QPR

Luton boss Nathan Jones is gearing up for what he has described as a ‘monumental’ clash against QPR at Kenilworth Road this evening.

The Hatters go into the contest just two points from safety and with the knowledge a victory could see them climb out of the relegation zone for the first time since late December.

With just three matches to go, Jones said: “We’ll be prepared. It’s a big game for us, monumental really, so we have to make sure we’re right at it.

“What we want to do is keep cutting the gap.

“We’ve cut it down to two points from a theoretical seven, we’ve got to keep doing that.

“We’d like there not to be a gap, we’d like to be creating a gap, but that takes time.

“What we want to do is keep picking up enough points and hopefully come the 23rd of this month we’ll be a Championship club.”

Before the season was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the fact that Luton had four from their final six at home was seen at a real bonus.

However, that has not been the case, with Town struggling at Kenilworth Road, taking two points from nine, while they have flourished on their travels, with two wins and a draw.

Jones preferred to look at the reasons behind his side’s poor home form, saying: “Our home games have come at different times.

“The first game (against Preston) was at home, so you didn't know what to expect and we were not in great shape.

“Then we went away to Swansea and Leeds, so we were really tired and fatigued, then we had to face Reading.

"Then we had a really important game (against Barnsley) that we were disappointed we didn’t win.

“So if we'd beaten Barnsley we wouldn't have said anything.

“If we’d just held out for those last five minutes, then we’d be in a wonderful place in terms of home and away we're picking up points.

“So yes, we look at it, but I don't know how much there is in terms of results.

“All we can do is prepare, we are prepared, we are ready and God willing we get the right result.

“On paper, a normal season, finishing with two home games out of three would be a real bonus, at the minute, you just don't know.”

With a number of sides still in danger themselves, the situation will change once more when Wigan Athletic are deducted 12 points at the end of the campaign for entering administration.

Meanwhile, Sheffield Wednesday could also be hit with a points deduction depending on the outcome oft heir FA misconduct charge.

Jones would much prefer being the masters of their own destiny though, saying: "What we’re trying to do is just finish out of the bottom three.

“Just finish out of the bottom three and if we finish out of the bottom three and then two people inadvertently fall into there because of other factors, then fine, but what we have to do is make sure we leave nothing to chance and that's all we can focus on.

“The motivation is just to get to our points target. If we get to our points target, we’ll give ourselves a real good chances of surviving, so that’s what we’ve got to do.

“It’s another step to try and get to that points target, it’s cliched, it’s boring, but that's all we’re thinking about.

“Get to that and it will give us a really wonderful opportunity of achieving our goal.”

After QPR this evening, Luton go to fellow strugglers Hull City on Saturday, before entertaining a Blackburn Rovers side who could have nothing to play for in their final match next Wednesday.

On they supposed difficulty of the remaining fixtures, Jones added: “You just don’t know, they’re all tough games and they’re all different games.

“Ironically, you’d think say for example, five points was enough to get us to our points tally, then we got those against Preston, Swansea and Leeds, you probably wouldn't be saying they are fantastic games to be finishing with.

“So every game is so difficult at the minute, difficult to gauge what people’s motivation is, what shape they're in, how they are coming through the games and training.

“You’ve got to take every game as it comes and evaluate the opposition, do what you need to do and then move on to the next one.”