Nathan Jones hailed the Hatters’ 2-0 win against play-off rivals West Bromwich Albion “massive” after victory propelled Town to within two points of the top six.
Cameron Jerome scored his first league goal for the club after hitting the post in the first half and Allan Campbell confirmed the points with a 20-yard cracker amid a man-of-the-match performance.
The Baggies had their chances, but extended their goalless run to five straight games after Karlan Grant failed to capitalise on a Kal Naismith error, hitting the bar, while Andy Carroll also cracked the crossbar late on with a thundering header.
Asked how big a win this was, Jones said: “Massive because, one, to be competing with sides like this, shows that we’ve come a long way.
“Two, I think if we’d drawn the game, our fans would’ve gone away disappointed. That shows the level of expectation now, that’s here, and it’s justified.
“These are a good side, and they’ll be in the (play-off) mix, so to beat them, to go above them, to be more than competing with them shows we’re in a good place.
“Resources wise we can’t (compete), but with our work, commitment and what we do, then we can.”
Any chances Albion had came largely through Town mistakes, yet the hosts survived to record a 13th clean sheet in the Championship and, once again, put them within a shout of the play-offs.
Jones said: “They’ve hit the bar and the post. I wouldn’t say we’ve rode our luck because we hit the post and missed a glorious chance in the first half.
“We gifted them a little bit in the first half, but I thought we were excellent. We limited them to very little, especially in the second half.
“We know that we’re a difficult side to play against here, so if we can settle down and get that head of steam then we can create something, and I thought we did.”
Jerome put in a commanding performance against the towering West Brom defenders, netting with a classic striker’s header on 55 minutes, powering in Naismith’s free-kick.
“I’m delighted for Cameron because his all-round play was excellent. He was a threat, should’ve scored in the first half and nearly did, then it was a great header for that goal,” said Jones.
“That’s why we brought him in. We brought him in so that he challenges Elijah (Adebayo) but at times we play them together and they’re a handful. He proved that.
“We felt it was a game for him, rather than Harry Cornick today. They’ve got three big centre halves, and we felt that, with the greatest of respect to Harry, he could’ve got swallowed up.
“Harry’s a runner and he needs fluent space and we felt that we might need two number nines today.”
The 35-year-old can also claim an assist of sorts as he rolled the ball to Campbell, though the midfielder’s finish was all about him.
An unstoppable strike from 20 yards was his fourth of the season, as he’s suddenly started to add goals to his game, which today was all action.
Jones said: “It’s difficult to come from the Scottish Premiership to the Championship because the levels are different.
“We encourage him to do certain things. At times he’s a bit too eager to get rid of the ball, but when he does carry it and scurry, he’s proving a potent weapon.
“He scored against Bournemouth, created a wonderful chance for Cameron Jerome and then scored a wonderful goal to seal the game.
“We’re delighted for him because he’s a great lad. You can see the crowd getting behind him because I think they can see themselves in him.”
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