Graeme Jones hailed his bottom-of-the-league Hatters for staying together amid adversity as they came from behind to edge Derby County in a five-goal thriller and claim a first victory in nine Championship games.
The victory, sealed by an 88th minute own goal by Rams defender Jayden Bogle, narrowed the gap to safety, with Town now six points adrift of Charlton Athletic.
Wayne Rooney opened the scoring on 63 minutes and it was a rollercoaster final half an hour where Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu and Donervon Daniels – with his first goal for the club – put the Hatters ahead.
Former Luton striker Chris Martin came off the bench to equalise before Bogle’s gaffe gifting the hosts a first victory since beating Wigan on December 7.
Boss Jones said: “I think we knew before the game we had to find a way of getting a positive result. That meant a draw or a win, but I felt it coming with the performance at Nottingham Forest.
“It’s our first win in nine, I know we got a draw against Fulham. It was incredibly satisfying because we’ve managed to stay together when everybody’s tried to divide us – and they haven’t.
“We’re against all the odds and, to dig out a win, after responding to going a goal down is really satisfying.”
Asked what pleased him most about the evening, Jones said: “The desire, the need, the character of the group. I think we had more efforts on target than them. They had more possession, obviously they’ve got some really, really good players.
“You look at Chris Martin and (Jack) Marriott coming off the bench, it shows you the level that we’re at, but our lads didn’t listen to any of that.
“Finally, I saw it at Forest where they know they can play at this level. It’s not easy and you’ve got to be in every single phase of play. Tonight, I thought we were exceptional in terms of off the ball.
“On the ball, we still managed a composure, confidence and belief to play when confidence is low, you’re under pressure, you’ve got to get results and you’re bottom of the league. We learnt our lessons from Birmingham and that’s satisfying as well.”
