Nathan Jones says he holds “no grudges” over Queens Park Rangers’ exuberant celebrations the last time they came to Kenilworth Road, insisting revenge is not on the menu.
Last term, The Rs came from behind to win 2-1 with a Rob Dickie goal snatching all three points late on and it sparked wild final whistle scenes from the visitors who leapfrogged Luton into fourth and looked set for a promotion push.
As it turned out, it was the Hatters who made the play-offs, while the Londoners faltered and finished outside the top six.
But after the contest, Jones admitted “it’s killed me’ as he was bereft at the manner of the smash-and-grab defeat that extended Town’s winless run against Rangers to 22 games.
On the scenes from the QPR players in that May clash, Jones said: “Sometimes euphoria gets the better of you and I’m sure there was no malice meant in it.
“Some people don’t like Luton, some people don’t like me, some people say stuff about me, but I bear no grudges or malice or anything against that.
“We felt we were hard done by as the (winning) goal was offside, referee apologised to me on a number of occasions afterwards, not directly after the game, but they got it wrong.
“It was a really tight game and it meant quite a lot, there was no malice, last year we finished above QPR, so it could have spurred us on in some ways as we didn’t lose many games after that, so nothing.
“You look back and think we owe them this, that or the other. It wasn’t
“Some days you do and people celebrate, I walked up the steps at Swansea, no malice meant against Russell (Martin) or Swansea, it was that we had plenty of travelling fans, I wanted to show them that I appreciated them and that was my motivation for doing it.
“Some people question me for that, there was no malice ever meant by it, so no, it’s fine.”
But Rangers remain something of bogey side for Town who have lost all but one of their six contests since returning to the Championship in 2019, drawing the other.
Jones said: “We’re up for changing records. We haven’t got a good record against Queens Park Rangers and that needs to change.
“It’s the perfect chance to do that, we’re both in decent form, both unbeaten in five, they are in wonderful form, they have very good players so it will be a tough game we know that.
“it’s another Championship game against tough opposition, it’s the same every week.”
Asked why QPR seem to have a hoodoo over the Hatters, Jones said: “One they’re a good side and two, when we do give them opportunities or we don’t do things right, then they take it, they take that opportunity and they’re decent.
“They have good players, lets bear in mind they’ve been a Premier League side, we’re relatively new to the division in recent years.
“They’ve been pretty much established in this division and the Premier League, so they’re a good side and sometimes you come up against sides who have got quality.
“But we’ve closed that gap, we finished above them last year, so it means that we’ve closed the gap on them, we would have finished on the same points as them the year before, but we lost on the final game to them, which was a tight game.
“So, we have been getting closer to QPR and last year, we were one of the best six sides in the division, some sides you have that, we haven’t beaten certain sides, some sides we beat every time we play against them that’s just the way it is.
“But we’re not up for revenge or anything, we’re just up to win a football game so hopefully we can redress that trend.”
