Nathan Jones hailed the impact of his “game-changers” and the “utopia” of Kazenga LuaLua coming off the bench to settle a relegation six-pointer at Hull and leave Championship survival in Luton’s hands.
Town were by far the better side against fellow strugglers, the Tigers, who didn’t have a shot on target, and they kept knocking on the door in a dominant second half, but could find the breakthrough.
Manager Jones then threw on Danny Hylton and LuaLua with 20 minutes to go, plus George Moncur soon after. They all had chances to break the deadlock, but LuaLua did it in stunning style in the 85th minute, tricking his way Daniel Batty and smashing the ball home from 25 yards.
It was a goal and a 1-0 victory which means Town now know that a result against Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday will keep them in the Championship.
Asked about the substitutions that put Luton’s fate in their own hands, Jones said: “I’m really pleased. Considering the importance of the game, I thought, technically, we were excellent. Our game management was superb, and then a game-changer coming on and winning the game for us is utopia.”
Jones talked about having the best bench in the division in his pre-match press conference on Thursday and so it proved at the KCOM Stadium.
“When I say about the best subs, it’s not just the most talented, but we have so much desire to come off the bench and impact,” he said, adding: “A lot of them believe they should be playing and quite rightly so.
“But just the desire to come off the bench and impact and to go again, we’ve always had that at this club, to take a game away from someone, or to get it back.
“Today they showed that and subs have impacted for me every single game and I’m so proud of the group.”
Town are still third from bottom in the official Championship table, but with Wigan’s 12-point deduction for going into administration still to be applied, they are effectively clear of the drop zone.
They’re level on points with currently safe Charlton, having closed an effective seven-point gap when Jones took over just before the restart.
“To take the points that we have – at the minute we’re on 1.6 points per game, so we’re in promotion form at the minute,” he said.
“That’s a good feeling. When we came in, we were six, effectively seven points behind, to get it to where we are now shows that this group has given everything.”
Now Town know that the great escape will be complete if they match or better the result of Wigan and Charlton on the final day decider on Wednesday against Blackburn.
Jones said: “I’m really proud of them but I said, ‘we’ve got one massive game to go and we’ve got to finish the job’.”
I can’t keep checking the current table great report james
COYH!!! The great escape is a on