Town skipper Bradley savours 'the best result in football' when winning 1-0 at Oakwell

Hatters defender Sonny Bradley was ecstatic after recording his favourite result in football at the weekend, a 1-0 win on the road at Barnsley.

The 29-year-old was part of a defence who stood firm at Oakwell, restricting their hosts to just one shot on target, that an easy Cauley Woodrow attempt gathered by Simon Sluga.

James Collins then struck with 18 minutes to go to ensure Town came away with all three points, leaving Bradley to savour the seventh time it has happened since he moved to Kenilworth Road in the summer of 2018

He said: “I always say a 1-0 away from home is the best result in football, I've said that since the start of my career and I still say it now.

“To come here against a good Barnsley side, you’ve got to give respect to Barnsley the last nine games, after the lockdown, I thought they were probably the best team in the league for me.

“We were a close second but I thought Barnsley were very good, so we knew it was going to be a difficult game.

“The opening game of the season, it’s always a little bit cagey.

"Teams are full of energy, but I think it was just about who was going to do the basics well, who was going to do the basics better than the other team and it was us.

“So to come here today and get a 1-0 win, with the clean sheet, I’m delighted.”

Manager Nathan Jones was also happy to rack up yet another single goal success to his record, the third time in five away games since football resumed after lockdown and the manager himself returned, that Town have triumphed by such a margin.

He agreed with the skipper’s philosophy too, saying: “Personally, I’d be happy with one more goal than everyone else, away from home, but he’s right, one-nil away from home shows that you can defend well and keep clean sheets.

“You’re invariably going to come under some pressure, away from home, so if you can get a goal they’re great wins, they really are.

“It’s nice to win by twos, threes and fours, because they hammer it home, but we’re at a level where we’re really testing ourselves now.

"We went away prior (during Jones' first spell in charge) and, without being disrespectful, we won by twos and threes and sometimes fives, but we’re at a level now where we’re tested week in, week out, and we love that.

“We love being tested tactically, physically and we love pushing our players because they always wanted the opportunity to play at this level.

"Now they’re competing at this level, so to get results like 1-0 away from home, to get three points and to have the lads dig in and do what they have to do, is great.

"We limited a good Barnsley side, because I urge you to look at Barnsley and they’re a good side, a real difficult side to play against, and that’s a wonderful result.

"I think it was severely underplayed by lots of people because they saw the position of the two clubs, but I don’t believe Barnsley will be anywhere near the position they were last year. “

It almost wasn't the case as Dominik Friesier should have levelled for the Tykes just moments after Luton took the lead, putting a free header wide from a matter of yards.

Bradley admitted his heart was in his mouth when the cross went over, adding: "A little bit, we’re going to have analyse that again to see how that happened.

"We have worked on this week to stop switching play and that’s where it’s come from.

"It was too easy to switch the play, it looked like we were off balance a little bit as a team in our structure.

"We shuffled over and then when the ball comes in the box, I think Rhys (Norrington-Davies) is a little bit narrow and to be fair, I think he should score, but he hasn’t and I’m happy and we’ve won."