Luton boss Graeme Jones declared himself “incredibly satisfied” with his side’s 2-0 pre-season victory at Portuguese top flight side C.S. Maritimo as he learnt more about which players he can “trust”.
Goals from Harry Cornick and James Collins (penalty) secured the victory in their penultimate preparation match ahead of next Friday’s Championship curtain-raiser at home to Middlesbrough.
Town complete their friendly schedule with the visit of Premier League Norwich City to Kenilworth Road, with home Hatters getting a first glimpse of their new manager and how he wants his team to play.
Speaking to the club’s website, Jones said: “I am absolutely delighted, I don’t know what the temperature is, but it’s very, very hot, so we had that variable against us. Tactically, Maritimo were a real test, different shapes even within the game. We knew that leading into it.
“I was really pleased with the players’ understanding. Maritimo finished seventh in the top tier of Portuguese football last season, so individually they’re going to hurt you, collectively they’re going to hurt you and what I loved about our performance was our tactical ability, to carry out our plan, to deal with their plan, but also Maritimo tried to mix it up at times and these boys were up for it no problem.
“Today was really satisfying, because you start earning trust, you start learning which players you can trust, who can do the job with resilience for 90 minutes. So overall, I am really, really happy.
“It was a measurement of the pre-season work – to implement your technical and tactical plan, to make sure we’re physically up to the level and then ultimately when you play against a team like Maritimo and then you play against Norwich, you know where you are.
“Today I was incredibly satisfied with what I saw and I feel like all of the work from the last four weeks went into that one performance.”
New recruit Martin Cranie, who featured in the pre-season test, said of his manager’s ethos: “It’s brilliant. He puts a lot of detail in his work. He knows exactly how he wants to play.”
