Graeme Jones says he ‘felt a change’ in Luton’s mentality that, despite a 3-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest, was a ‘breakthrough’ for belief within his struggling squad.
In the first half especially, Town were much improved from last week’s insipid display at home to Birmingham and they got their rewards when Harry Cornick scored his seventh of the season midway through.
But with the visitors in the ascendancy, Simon Sluga made a mistake to allow the Reds back into the contest when Joe Lolley was given space to squeeze a shot beneath the keeper.
The Forest winger bagged another after the break, while Lewis Grabban converted from the spot at the death.
It consigned bottom-of-the-league Luton to a tenth straight Championship defeat and the club’s worst away-day league run for 92 years, but Jones sensed something to be hopeful about in the Hatters’ performance.
The manager said: “If we’ve got that mentality, and that’s what I’ve been waiting for all season, I’ve been waiting for that breakthrough, in terms of coming to places like this and really thinking we can get something out of it.
“I felt a change. We need to get everybody fit, hopefully add a couple and we’ve got 18 games left and we’ll have a right go because I do believe we can get out of it.”
Last weekend, Town were on the back foot from the fourth minute when conceding an early goal in a 2-1 defeat to Birmingham.
But after the Forest game, Jones said: “It was a big improvement on last week, which is a real bonus. We came here with a real belief that we could get something and that’s the first time I’ve felt like that away from home.
“I don’t think everything went in our favour but, overall, I was really satisfied with the first half performance. Certainly, the mentality to come into Nottingham Forest’s back yard, how we performed and how we controlled the game to an extent, off the ball, for the first time.
“It was good to have Glen Rea back in there.
“We all know what happened with the first goal, it could’ve been a free-kick. The second goal, Lolley’s got that individual quality that a lot of Championship teams have got.
“That’s nothing about tactics, or work, it’s about his ability to cut inside and put it in the top corner.
“And the third one, if somebody was kicking a ball at me now, I’d jump and try to protect my face. It has hit Sonny’s arm and, all of a sudden, it looks a lot worse than it was.
“James Collins had a good chance. We had a great chance with Dan Potts from a set piece and it could’ve been very different.”
