Jones urges Luton to put a run of wins together to climb Championship table

Luton boss Nathan Jones has urged his side to put a run of wins together to really make their imprint on the Championship table this season.

The Hatters chief has seen his side recover from a tough start to the campaign to move up to 10th in recent weeks, with just one defeat in nine games, and are currently five unbeaten, although have drawn three of those.

Coincidentally, this afternoon’s opponents QPR are also on a sequence of just one defeat in nine, but the difference for the West London side is they they have won six, including their last three, which has propelled them up to third in the table.

It won’t be easy for Luton to carry out Jones’ wishes as after facing the R’s at Kenilworth Road today, a side they haven’t beaten in the league since January 2006, they then go to promotion favourites Norwich City on Tuesday night and fierce rivals Watford next Sunday, as on putting successive victories on the board, the Town manager said: “We need to do that, but we’re in good form.

“We debriefed and we defended our box magnificently well against West Brom and if we had just done that half as well against Huddersfield, we would have won the game comfortably.

"It’s finding that consistency, making sure we do that, but it’s a relentless league.

"Some people get wins on the bounce, for whatever reason, good form, scintillating form, they’re the best team, have a little bit of luck now and again, fixtures are kind, don’t have to travel, whatever that is, people put runs together.

"What you have to do is over a season be really, really consistent over the 46 games with performances and then when your run comes, take advantage of that.

"QPR are a good side, they're always in and around it, and so they should be, because they’ve been ex-Premier League, they’ve got good players and always have a pretty settled structure that they do good recruitment with their managers.”

One of the things holding Luton back so far this term has been their inability to gain all three points on home soil, as they have managed just one victory from seven outings, losing the lead in all of their last four matches.

Jones is happy with the level of performances they have produced in front of their own fans though, as he continued: “I think we’ve been really good.

"Apart from three set-plays we were outstanding against Huddersfield, scored three goals and could’ve scored more.

"The Wigan game was exactly the same, we were in total control of the game, with no real problems.

"The sporadic attacks that they had came to very little, but we imploded within six, seven minutes, so I’m not really worried about that, but it has to turn.

“It’s still early on, but if our performance levels are there, generally, then results will come.

"We have to maintain our performance levels, do the basics well and once we do that we’re a good side.

“We’ve got goals in us, we very rarely don’t score, but we have to make sure that we do the basics well and then are potent the other way.”

Following a season in which Luton got to Christmas in 15th place, they burst into life in the new year, going on to win 14 from their next 24 matches to end up sixth in the division and reach the play-offs.

With the league breaking for the World Cup next month, then Jones wants to do something similar in 2023, adding: “It’s been tough, we’ve had injuries, we’ve had people coming out, we haven’t been able to select from the first 11, so it’s about really staying in touch.

“Then hopefully with how we train, what we do, we’ll come out of it and as we did last year, have a fantastic second half of the season.

“We’re in a decent position, but the performance levels have been very good.

“We categorically should have won the game (against Huddersfield), comfortably, I think it was one of the lowest xGs (expected goals) you could possibly have, so it shows we defend well, it’s just we scored two own goals.

“I keep repeating it, at home to Birmingham we were really good, at home to Wigan we should have been comfortable, so we should be comfortably in the top six, in the top four, but that’s how far we’ve come.

"We’re not crying over spilt milk though, we’re just in a decent place, but I’m sure we’re going to get better as well.”