Nathan Jones hopes ‘perfect away performance’ leads to Luton play-off push

Posted Sunday, August 21, 2022 by PA

Nathan Jones hopes his Luton side’s first win of the season will help kick-start another push for the Sky Bet Championship play-offs after the Hatters triumphed 2-0 at Swansea.

The Hatters were beaten by Huddersfield in last season’s knock-out phase and eyebrows were raised when they lost 2-0 at Bristol City on Tuesday night.

Jones was understandably not happy at Ashton Gate, but he was all smiles after winning in Wales four days later.

“We were terrible in midweek and went away from being us, but today we were outstanding. Our discipline was great and out of possession it was as good a performance as you will see.” said the Welshman.

“We denied them very little and we looked a threat. It was the perfect away performance.

“They are a very good technical side who pack the middle of the park. I watched them against Millwall and they could have been out of sight.

“But I thought we were brilliant and when we brought on the finishers we upped the tempo. That was my team again today.

“We are in and around it in the table and we want to start climbing from here. I’m proud of that performance and we know where we are as a team.

“We work hard as a team and we are hungry and humble. We won’t get carried away, but this is something to build on in a really long season.”

It was a seventh game in a row without a win at home for the Swans this season and last and Russell Martin was once again left scratching his head.

“We’ve let the two minutes of madness on Tuesday night seep into the start again. Box to box, I watch with pride at how we play football,” said Martin.

“Both boxes today, in our box on Tuesday, for two minutes, it’s just not convincing enough. There wasn’t enough aggression and we paid for it at the second phase again.

“We let Cameron Jerome turn inside the pitch and let Carlton Morris one-ono-ne with Ben Cabango. It’s those moments that are costing us.

“Between both boxes, we’re doing unbelievable stuff. Before today, we were really close to a successful start to the season.

“We have a really young group who haven’t been able to cope with the anxiety. I actually think two away games will be good for them.

“We have young men who are trying to learn and get through those moments.”