Nathan Jones believes Luton could finish in the top eight of the Championship this season with a little more belief and quality.
In their last three home games, the Hatters have dominated the fancied automatic promotion contenders, beating Norwich 3-1 and then coming away disappointed at a stalemate against Bournemouth on Saturday, either side of a 3-0 victory over promotion chasers Preston North End.
But with 27 points and sitting in 14th position – 11 points clear of the relegation zone that they spent the second half of last season languishing in until the final day – there’s a growing sense of looking up the table, rather than down this term.
Town travel to eighth placed Reading on Boxing Day, who are just six points in advance of Luton and boss Jones thinks that’s achievable.
“What we’ve got to do is continue growing. All they (players) need is a little bit more belief and a little bit more quality,” said the Hatters chief.
“If we’ve got a little bit more belief and a little bit more quality, we’re top eight. I genuinely believe that.”
But there’s logic to Jones’ positive outlook, if you take into account performance levels, particularly at home.
It’s a mark of how far Town have come since the Welshman took over for the second time, that they’ve felt hard done by with some recent results.
Jones said: “We played Middlesbrough the other day, who hardly created a chance in the 90 minutes and they put three past Millwall in 17-18 minutes.
“So, if we think we can just go gung-ho then we’ll concede chances. But apart from Cardiff, the performance levels have been excellent.
“Look at Swansea. We were the better side. We’ve been the better side against Nottingham Forest. We’ve been the better side against Birmingham. These are big clubs and big sides, but we’ve shown we’re in a good place.
“Now, I don’t think we’ve got the points total we should’ve had, but let’s see if we can rectify that.”
Jones talks regularly about establishing establishing Luton as a second tier side and after the Bournemouth draw he said: “We’ve earned this opportunity to play at this level and we’re delighted because this is where we belong.
“We’re not going to win the Championship but we belong in this with the group we’ve got, with the work we do and that’s the big thing we have to take.
“Now, we are considerably behind Bournemouth, but remember where Bournemouth came from. It’s a fantastic run they’ve had from League Two and the brink of extinction, League Two, League One and now they have a Premier League squad there.
“Hopefully, in years to come we can follow in those footsteps.”
