Nathan Jones thinks Luton could be as high as ninth in the Championship had they matched their good performances with goals and says he’s working to improve his side’s killer instinct.
Town take on Coventry at Kenilworth Road tonight, coming off the back of consecutive scoreless defeats to the divisions automatic promotion hopefuls, Norwich and Swansea.
While they were outgunned at Carrow Road, they were the better team on Saturday against the Swans and created more chances but could find the net, but Elijah Adebayo, Jordan Clark and Harry Collins were all off-target, while Dan Potts’ header was ruled out for offside.
It was their 16th blank in 35 Championship games this term and Jones said: “You have to take your chances and we missed chances away as well, so we have to be clinical in what we do, we have to be better in what we do.
“Once we do then we’ll be in a proper position, as we should be 10th, 11th, ninth in this Championship from the level of performances we’ve had, it’s just we haven’t quite turned performances in to results.
“That’s what we have to strive to do, because we have been short on goals and we have been trying to find ways of doing that. And, if we do that, we’ll move forward.
“It’s decision-making. There’s so much, in-house, that we work on and that we can see coming out, and it’s just that final bit.
“That final bit, we have to show quality because when we get in to areas it’s not their endeavour, their work-rate, their desire to do well, their listening – they’re a great group that really wants to do well – it’s just that bit of know-how, that bit of decision-making, which is what top, top players have.
“That’s the difference sometimes, which separates the very best with those who are good footballers.”
But Jones will take heart by the way they played a swashbuckling style of football against a Swansea side and he will hope his men can replicate that against Coventry.
“It’s definitely something to build on,” the manager said, adding: “We have to make sure that we take the positives from it but improve on those things that we can. The clinical edge is all that we lacked.
“It’s a chance to continue that level of performance. If we have that for another 11 games then we’ll pick up more points than we won’t.
“I’m very happy with the level of performance, it’s just that we didn’t quite get the goal (against Swansea).
“It gives us a chance to put that right but also gives us another chance to win a football game because that’s what we need to do.
“We’ve lost two on the bounce now against the top two, so there’s no shame in that, but we want to make sure we put that right.”
Tonight’s opponents, Coventry, sit six points below Luton, so it’s a big chance to put further daylight between them and the teams at the bottom, though the return fixture was another game where Luton failed to find the target.
Jones said: “I know (manager) Mark Robins has done a wonderful job there and they’re probably consolidating and trying to establish themselves as a Championship side.
“They’ve got a good side, good players and a good system, how they play, so it will be a tough game as every one in the Championship is.”
The Sky Blues didn’t play at the weekend after their game against Rotherham was postponed – like Luton’s last week – because of an outbreak of coronavirus in the Millers’ camp. But Jones is not concerned about City having more of a rest between games.
“We’ve had a full week (before Swansea), so it’s just two games,” said Jones, adding: “The Preston one will probably be the one where fatigue would set in a little bit more.
“I don’t think (tonight) would, it doesn’t matter. It’s just that these are the days we live in. It’s very unfortunate that we’ve had games that have been called off because they’ve hindered us.
“We were in great form and then we had the QPR game delayed and we didn’t put in the performance, so momentum (was lost).
“Then Rotherham was exactly the same thing. Rotherham was our game in hand and we wanted to do that because if did that we could’ve gone tenth, which is a wonderful position to be in.
“We didn’t, so we have to wait to get those points. So that’s the frustrating thing.”
But, though Luton lost to Swansea at the weekend, they did all the attacking, so weren’t chasing shadows and Jones said: “Mentally that will help, but we’ve got to make sure that we see the positives in the performance and not just see the fact they’ve lost a football match, because we deserved so much more.”
