Nathan Jones says tomorrow’s crunch relegation clash at Hull City is one of the biggest games in his career but is wary of hyping up its important for fear it adversely affects the Hatters.
Town are one point from Championship safety with two games of the campaign to go, and a victory at the KC Stadium will lift them out of the drop zone.
The Hatters prepare to face a side that have just been thumped 8-0 by Wigan Athletic and sit level on 45 points with them, but one place above courtesy of goal difference of four.
Asked where the game ranks in his Luton managerial career, Jones said: “As big as there is. We won’t play it down, but what we won’t do is get it to a level where it inhibits performance and mentality.
“We’re used to big games here. This group are, we’ve had to usually win every game or we’ve gone out to win every game to have got promoted.
“Things have changed this season, we’ve had to win games to stay in the league, but the pressure is exactly the same, in terms of 11 v 11, use your subs, 90 minutes, playing on a pretty much similar pitch.
“So, the parameters around it is exactly the same, it’s how we handle it. Now, we’ve been in decent form and we want to continue that, yes we want to turn a few of these draws into wins, we can’t draw our way to safety, so we’ll look to be positive.”
Prior to Town’s first Championship campaign in 12 years, it was widely accepted that a finishing one place about relegation would constitute a successful season.
Hull, on the other hand, as a former Premier League side, would have hoped to be looking up, rather than down the table. Asked if his players would therefore be better prepared for the basement battle, Jones said: “I can’t second guess how anyone is going to feel.
“From the outside it might seem that this was expected, but not from us, because we always recruited a side and played a certain way, that we had a togetherness and we always loved to take on higher league opposition.
“So, all I can say is we’ve got a hunger to stay in the league, and I’m hoping that drives them on the weekend to win a big game, because whoever wins on Saturday it will be a big step to survival.”
