Nathan Jones says Luton’s hopes of a Championship great escape will rest on how his side can defend.
The Hatters return to action tomorrow, at home to Preston North End after a three-month hiatus due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The clash is the first of nine games in six weeks and but they begin with a six-point deficit between them and safety, courtesy of the worst defensive record in the division. Their goal difference is languishing on minus 28, after shipping 71 goals in 37 games, which effectively puts them seven points adrift.
Only one defeat in their last six – when former boss Graeme Jones was still in charge – had given Town some momentum before lockdown, and now the returning manager knows his men will have to be more like the miserly defence he had during his first spell in charge, between 2016 and 2019.
“I do think that, recently, they’ve improved that considerably, in the second half of the season,” said Jones who will take charge of a Town team tomorrow for the first time in 16 months.
“In the first half of the season, you’re finding your feet and it’s a difficult league to try to find your feet in, because you can get punished for absolutely nothing. I’ve experienced that, trust me, in this season (with Stoke).
“I understand that, but I do believe there are goals in the team. It’s just what we do defensively will determine our outcome, but that’s always the case.
“We were famed for our style of play and how many goals we scored, but in pretty much every season, we were top three, defensively.
“Sometimes we were the top one, sometimes second, but we were always in the top three defensively.
“When we didn’t get promoted, we were, when we got the two promotions, I think we were first and second, defensively, in the league.
“We’ve always had a good defensive record, so we’ve got to make sure we do that. It’s different tests because it’s the Championship, but what we do out of possession will determine how we finish.”
