Jones reveals Town defender Potts has responded well after Luton boss had a 'right go at him'

Luton boss Nathan Jones has praised the manner in which defender Dan Potts responded to some constructive criticism about his performances with the match-winner at Birmingham City on Saturday.

The full back had missed the first part of the season due to injury carried over from last term, plus the form of one-time loan signing Rhys Norrington-Davies, who has since left the club, not starting for the Hatters until their 2-0 defeat at Swansea on December 5.

Since that day, Potts has begun 13 from 14 of Town’s following Championship encounters, only missing the 2-1 home win over Bristol City when he came on in the second period.

Potts then showed his aerial ability at the weekend, heading home the only goal of the game as Luton won 1-0 at St Andrew’s, while was also a big factor in Town’s own area as well, heading a number of Blues’ set-pieces away during the contest.

Jones said: “He’s magnificent in both boxes, he’s one of the best headers of the ball we have and we’re delighted.

“He’s had a tough time lately as I’ve had a right go at him for a few things that he could be better as I want to push him, I want to drive him on, because some of the things he’s doing, he was doing the first time I was here.

“So I want him to improve, but he responds and it was right place, right time.

“I’ve got a good honest group and that’s the best thing about us.

“We work hard, we graft, anything I ask them to do and I ask them to do quite a lot and demand from them, but they respond and they want to do it.

“I’m very proud of the group, I love working with them as they’re a responsive group.

“We lack top, top end quality that others have at this level, but what we lack in quality, we make up in structure and work-rate.

“That’s why we compete at this level as we’ve got such an honest hard working, great group, that want to get better and by wanting that and having that desire, they will.”

Potts, who is one of a number of Luton’s squad out of contract in the summer, was happy to take on board the pointers given by his boss, as he continues to establish himself as a Championship regular, with another fine performance following during Tuesday night's 2-0 defeat to Cardiff City.

He said: “He’s always been good to me and has always been pushing me to want more.

“It works well and it’s something that I always thrive on, it’s a healthy constructive criticism.

“You never want to be comfortable, or complacent, take your foot off the gas, you want to keep pushing forward and striving.

“I think that’s replicated where we are, you look at the league now, it’s a strange one but we’re a few wins now from really doing something.

“I think that’s the mentality within us now, we’re looking up and back-to-back wins would certainly help that.”

The defender felt Town's gameplan worked perfectly at St Andrew's as well, adding: "I think away wins are as good as they come.

"We knew we had to do the basics well and I thought we did that to man, we got the goal and we defended really well from the front, we managed to see it out and get the win.

“We knew they would try and have a fast start, we saw that out well and then we built into the game.

"I thought we were in control for the majority, getting the goal helped, but I thought we nullified them well and we knew what we had to do to get the result we got and I thought the gameplan worked well."