Nathan Jones said he made substitutes too late against Queens Park Rangers but insisted the 1-1 draw edged Luton a point closer to Championship survival.
In fact, they’re one from safety, though Charlton play tomorrow and could increase the gap to four with two games left to play.
It means Town likely need to beat Hull and Blackburn to stand a chance of a great escape.
A James Collins penalty raised hopes of moving out of the bottom three tonight, but they couldn’t contain Rangers, and Bright Osayi-Samuels in particular who set up Dominic Ball for the leveller on 65 minutes.
It set up a nervy finale in which either side could have nicked it, with Dan Potts coming closest for the hosts in added time, when Rs stopper Joe Lumley pulled off a fabulous save.
Manager Jones said: “They’re a very difficult side to play against. They had the luxury of some wonderful, wonderful players and were able to experiment being on 53 points.
“They caused us problems in terms of being able to press, so we had to stay solid and make sure we didn’t concede, then I probably made changes a little bit too late, but it’s another point.”
Town have now draw four of the seven games since the restart and Jones added: “We have got to make sure that we are in games to win them, and at the minute we are giving ourselves an opportunity, we are picking up points every game and that’s all we can do.
“It’s very difficult to come out and be expansive against some real dangerous sides, because if you do, you’re going to get punished.
“There’s going to be a time for that, but at the minute, it’s another point closer to our total.
“It happened last week against Barnsley, a scrappy goal, we would have loved to have got two wins rather than two draws, but this is the position we’re in.”
