Graeme Jones was thrilled with a rearguard action that saw his Luton side repel Blackburn to successfully defend a 2-1 lead, headed by former Rover Matty Pearson.
For 33 minutes, plus six added on for a home equaliser to be chalked off, the Hatters had to see out an aerial bombardment and they more than met the task to claim a first Championship victory in three.
Jones said: “We had to defend our way to victory today, we didn’t attack our way to victory, we defended our way and the character of the boys, the understanding of the boys was excellent.
“Irrespective of the result, we needed to be competitive again.
“I think the last seven uminutes against Hull damaged us as it’s not a way to lose a football match. Leicester was a one off occasion really, but on Thursday, I was brutally honest with the boys.
“I asked for the same mental and physical consistency during the game, no matter what the scoreline is and I told them if we get that we’ll win the game.
“We played in a different way today, we used bits of the Leicester game to help us and we showed great character and came out 2-1 winners.”
Town were put under significant pressure from the kick-off but they opened the scoring against the run of play through James Collins’ 50th goal of his 102-game Hatters career.
His powerfully headed finish owed everything to Izzy Brown pinpoint cross, the first of two assist for the Chelsea loan ace, who was deployed to excellent effect as the alternating tip of a midfield diamond and central forward.
Jones said: “If you watch Blackburn for the first 20 minutes, you felt their quality. I didn’t want to come into the game and start being negative, I knew we had to be absolutely at our best.
“I knew set-pieces would be important in order for us to win here, they are a really, really strong Championship side, so for us to come here and do what we did was really, really satisfying.”
After Pearson’s 57th minute header – his second of the season – Rovers brought some big guns off the substitute’s bench, but Danny Graham and former German international Lewis Holtby, could not break Luton’s resolve.
Jones said: “We changed the shape because you can feel Danny Graham’s threat and they put two up front, three up front, four up front, they’re throwing it in the box.
“We won the game 2-1, we conceded one goal, all I asked for the other day was to win the game, we got that and I’m extremely happy.
“We were absolutely in the game, we controlled the game defensively, not on the ball, possession stats were down, but that was set up that way.”
