Nathan Jones has dismissed any suggestion that tonight’s clash against table-toppers Leeds United is a “free hit” having claimed four points in two games since football’s restart to boost hopes of a great escape.
The trip to Elland Road will be the Hatters’ third of a nine-game, one-month mini season after the three-month suspension due to Coronavirus.
A 1-0 victory at play-off-chasing Swansea on Saturday cut the points gap to safety in half, but few are tipping Town to take anything from a Whites team that are eight points clear in the race for automatic promotion.
Jones said: “Every game is important, it’s a mini tournament, a mini league, we have to take the points where we can get them.
“It’s 100 per cent not a free hit, and we’re not looking at it in that way in any way, shape or form. We want to build momentum, we want to make sure we’re structurally good, so it’s not about going there and having a free hit, absolutely not, and I don’t want the players thinking that. We mentioned that today, it’s a chance to build.
“At the minute, every result is a massive one, because of the magnitude, the importance and the proximity of games, the proximity to the end of the season, then every game is massive now.
“You can use the same analogies, cup finals and so on, but every single game now is so, so important. So, it’s just another opportunity to get more points on the board to reach the tally that we have set.
“All we have to do is try and narrow the gap, when we first came in, it was six points with a big deficit on goal difference, now we’re down to three with slightly less deficit on goal difference, so we’re just chipping away it.”
Before Coronavirus struck and Jones returned for a second spell in the Luton managerial hotseat, the club were on a decent run of form, with just one defeat in six games.
In the quest to avoid relegation straight back to League One, Jones said: “We keep saying if we get to a points total then that gives an opportunity.
“Yes, we’d probably take that again (last seven games), another four wins and three draws, we’d probably take that from now until the end of the season, we’ve had a decent start, we’ll not get carried away, tough games coming up, real tough games, none more so than (tonight). It’s a decent start but we have to build on it.”
Jones confirmed that Kazenga LuaLua (knee) remains the only player unavailable for the Leeds test, saying: “He’s the only one that’s still struggling a little, everyone else is ready to go, and have a very strong squad to choose from, we’re really pleased with, so we go there in good form.”
