Graeme Jones hailed his Hatters for finding a different way to beat Brentford 2-1 last night and lift Luton off the foot of the Championship table.
Luton had been embarrassed after a 7-0 rout at Griffin Park in November – the club’s heaviest league defeat in 53 years – and, going into the game propping up the Championship, few would have expected such a change in outcome.
Before kick-off, the team sheet revealed that influential attackers Izzy Brown (tonsillitis) and Kazenga LuaLua (hamstring) had not made the squad for the second game running, while captain Sonny Bradley (hip) was also absent.
The Bees, who have the stingiest defence in the division and the second highest strike-rate, could have moved into third place by doing the double over Town.
However, their own Shandon Baptiste scored a ninth minute own goal and Martin Cranie found the top corner to give Luton a 2-0 half-time lead.
Despite that, the Hatters had to surrender possession, finishing the contest with just 31 per cent of the ball, but still coming away with all the spoils.
“We had to win in a different way,” said boss Jones, adding: “We couldn’t take Brentford on and try and beat them, we had probably too many injuries.
“Off the ball, I thought we were absolutely outstanding, set-pieces were important, character of the players, energy and the players need to take all the credit, to a man, they were exceptional.
“Brentford are an outstanding football team, that was a high-level game in terms of off the ball, tactical performance from us.
“If anyone gets any time, have a look at the intelligence of our press, because they’ve spent millions, they’ve got top quality individuals.
“If they’d won, they’d have gone third in the league and we won the game with our character, our off-the-ball press and intelligence, set pieces and it was a different way of winning for us.
“I’d still prefer to take people on with certain players, if they are fit, and we had to find a different way and that was so satisfying.”
Jones only made one change to the side that was beaten 3-1 at Charlton on Saturday, with Cranie replacing James Bree and rewarding his manager with his second Luton goal, from just three shots on goal.
Jones said: “We were missing three key players
tonight and still won a game of football. We couldn’t do that after Brentford
(away).
“I think we beat Wigan in the next game, purely on a human reaction. After that
we were flat. We went to Stoke and Preston and struggled. We’re finding a way
of winning, no matter what team we put out, because the lads are believing that
they’re Championship level, and we’re proving that with results.”
