Graeme Jones insists it has never been the case that his Hatters weren’t playing for him after they recorded back-to-back clean sheet victories to raise hopes of a Championship great escape.
Saturday’s 1-0 at Middlesbrough drew Luton to within four points of safety and ended an 11-game losing run on the road.
However, a cursory look at social media, in particular, at any point after one of Town’s 21 defeats this term, would invariably see claims that the manager had ‘lost the dressing room’.
And though Luton have also recorded two homes wins out of their last four, defeats to Birmingham and Cardiff drew boos for the boss.
The latter – a 1-0 reverse, just last weekend – saw Town cut nine points adrift, but Jones has always been optimistic about surviving relegation.
“The belief has always been there, it’s not been on the outside, but it’s been there in the dressing room,” said Jones, adding: “It’s been there from me because I think I’ve been around enough to assess what I’ve got.
“I know when a group of players are fighting for you, and I know when a group of players are hanging you out to dry and that’s never been the case. We’ve had to learn valuable lessons along the way, and nothing gives me greater satisfaction than when I see improvement.”
At the Riverside Stadium, Ryan Tunnicliffe broke his goalscoring duck for the club, while Boro didn’t register a shot on target.
After the final whistle, 800 travelling Town fans gave their triumphant team a rapturous reception, with chants of ‘The Town are staying up’ and outbreaks of the theme to movie classic, The Great Escape.
Jones believes it’s now ‘game on’ for such an escape and asked if that was a moment that he felt the fans did too, he said: “I hope so, but a week ago they didn’t, and I said there are key moments where we all need to stick together.
“Against Sheffield Wednesday on Wednesday night, they did. As a club there’s unity there, off the pitch and on it.
“The game rewards you, but sometimes you have to go to the depths of despair in order to get to that point. You heard it in them moments and we certainly did on Wednesday night and that carried through to (Saturday).”
Great piece James