Jones wants Town to put the record straight if they fall behind at Reading

Town boss Nathan Jones wants his side to put their record straight of being unable to win when going behind on the road should that happen at Reading this afternoon.

The Hatters haven't triumphed when conceding the first goal on their travels since October 2, 2018, when they beat Oxford United 2-1 in League One, over two years and 22 games ago now.

When hearing of the stat, Jones said: "It’s always vital at this level (scoring first) because it’s tough.

"When you say two years, I probably wasn’t here for 18 months of that and, bearing in mind before, we didn’t tend to be behind too often.

“So, there’s plenty of things that can be manufactured or can be manipulated in any way, shape or form, but what we don’t want to do is go behind.

“I’d prefer that we never concede a goal, but if we have to do that, improve that and put that to bed then we usually make history, or put records straight quite well here, since we’ve been at the club.

“So, if that’s something we have to do, then hopefully we can do it."

Town's away form has taken a dip recently as well, as having gone unbeaten when Jones returned last term, they have now gone four games without a win away from Kenilworth Road,, not scoring either.

The boss continued: "At the end of last year we were excellent, we were outstanding away from home.

"Now we’re trying to evolve a little bit, we’re trying to be a little bit more proactive than we were because we know it was about results at the end of last year.

"We want to improve our away form, we have won three away from home and I felt we definitely should have got something away at Middlesbrough.

"It is not disastrous form but we would like to pick up a few more wins because we do pick up points away from home, it’s just we would like to pick up a few more wins."

When asked about a Royals side who began the campaign in wonderful form, winning seven from their opening eight games, they have now dropped to eighth after a run of three victories from 12, with seven defeats.

Jones said: “I think they’re in a better position than they were last year, and I think the manager (Veljko Paunovic) definitely had an effect there.

"I think maybe slightly their ambitions are slightly higher, I can’t speak for another team, but they’re a very dangerous side.

"They’ve got some wonderful individuals that have been courted by other clubs and we know like any other Championship game, it's no different.

"A little bit goes out of the window on Boxing Day, it’s always a strange one as there's always some strange results on Boxing Day due to the festivities or whatever it is.

"But all we can do is concentrate on us and not be preoccupied with opposition, show them the respect that everyone deserves, but concentrate on us."

Today's clash in Berkshire is the second in four meetings between the two sides this term, Luton winning 1-0 in the Carabao Cup earlier in the season, with the teams paired in the FA Cup in a fortnight's time, ahead of another league clash at Kenilworth Road still to come in April.

Jones added: "We played them earlier in the cup and that will have no bearing whatsoever as both teams made a number of changes, and I would imagine that won’t quite be the case on Saturday.

"In terms of the FA Cup, I wouldn't say it's boring, it's just there’s zero romance.

"The last thing we wanted was another Championship side, we’d have rather gone to Timbuktu and played them away on a cabbage patch, then to face another Championship side.

"We’d have liked something different, but it’s just another Championship game, so that lacks romance.

"But one thing we will know I would imagine that both teams will be very similar, so I think come January 10, we’ll know each other very well."