Huddersfield defeat ‘could be one of the best things to happen to us,’ says Jones

Boss Nathan Jones believes last night’s 2-0 defeat to play-off rivals Huddersfield Town could be a good thing for Luton, insisting his side are better when faced with adversity. 

The Hatters suffered their first defeat in five games when the Terriers put two past them and top scorer Elijah Adebayo missed a penalty, but it was a third game on the spin without a victory and that has left Luton looking nervously over their shoulder at the chasing Championship pack.

Going into the international break that had sat in third place, with a four-point cushion on the chasing pack. That was due to a fantastic run of form in which they picked up the most amount of second-tier points in 2022 apart from runaway leaders Fulham. 

But a three-game winless run since the return to domestic action, including last night’s 2-0 defeat to a fellow top six side, has seen them drop to fifth and their points buffer cut in half. 

But Jones was positive, saying: “I think it could be one of the best things to happen to us, I really could. 

“We’ve been in the third place and when we’ve had that game to really cement (our play-off place), we haven’t. 

“It’s when we’ve had to chase and gather momentum and it’s bang, bang, bang, so it could’ve come at a good time. If we go bang, bang, bang now it’s a wonderful time to do that. 

“We’ve been hit on the nose, we usually bounce back, but I think at the minute, the group might not be ready to establish itself as a top two, top three, top four side and, let’s be honest, it’s a long shot to be able to do that in this division. But we’ll see. We’ve got five absolutely glorious games to go. 

“Everything’s to gain. We want to achieve something and we’re bang on track. If we go and get a certain amount of points, which we believe we can, then there’s real opportunities.”

Town’s task doesn’t get any easier on Good Friday when they host Nottingham Forest, who are the division’s most in-form side and now sit one place and two points ahead of Luton, having played a game less. 

It’s the first of three final regular season games at Kenilworth Road and Jones has called for togetherness to get over the line and qualify for the end of season shake-up. 

He told the club’s website: “We’ve given them (fans) everything and, together, we’ve been good all season. 

“Now it’s the final thing. Now we can’t falter, now we can’t stutter. Now we have to be strong, we have to be together and we have to go out and get the results we need. 

“It’s tough, it’s really really disappointing but we’ve got to get over that because there’s still plenty to play for.”