Graeme Jones says he’s never had any concerns that Luton can still pull of a great escape this season, but insists that the players now believe it too after last night’s 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday.
James Collins’ tenth of the campaign separated the sides, but Town could’ve had four before the half hour mark as they dominated the Championship contest.
The victory lifted Luton off the foot of the table and narrowed the gap to safety to seven points, while also securing only a second clean sheet of the league campaign.
Asked if he thinks Town now have a chance to avoid relegation, Jones said: “Yeah, but I never thought any different. What’s changed is belief, that’s what the result gives the boys. We’ve got experience now so we know what’s coming on Saturday. We know the turnaround. We didn’t know this six months ago.
“Remember, Luton Town were in League Two 20 months ago. Think about that job. You’ve seen the players here.
“Sheffield Wednesday signed Connor Wickham and Josh Windass in the window and, with the greatest respect, we’ve just beaten them 1-0 and earned the victory.
“It wasn’t luck, we were the better team. That’s how far we’ve come and sometimes you need to measure it and tonight is a good night to measure it.”
“We were ten points adrift in the Premier League in one season and we won seven out of the last nine and we went from getting relegated and getting slaughtered by everybody because we were small Wigan, to staying in the league comfortably, to being offered the Liverpool job. So I said yesterday, people need to be careful what they wish for.
“Tonight’s about celebrating our players and their honesty and I couldn’t be prouder of the performance.”
Jones has been in successful relegation fights before when he was assistant manager at Wigan Athletic and that’s where the Hatters boss draws his confidence and experience from.
He said: “We were ten points adrift in the Premier League in one season and we won seven out of the last nine and we went from getting relegated and getting slaughtered by everybody because we were small Wigan, to staying in the league comfortably, to being offered the Liverpool job.
So I said yesterday, people need to be careful what they wish for. Tonight’s about celebrating our players and their honesty and I couldn’t be prouder of the performance.”
