Graeme Jones said Luton is ‘incredibly blessed’ to have a Premier League quality forward in their ranks after Izzy Brown scored the winner to beat Charlton 2-1 and end a five-game losing streak in the Championship.
The Chelsea loan ace was at the heart of everything that the Hatters did in an attacking sense and his first goal for the club completed a comeback victory after Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu’s strike cancelled out Jonathan Leko’s early opener.
The result lifted Luton out of the relegation zone and three points clear and, while Charlton boss Lee Bowyer bemoaned infringement in both Town goals, including a handball claim from Brown to get in on goal, Town manager Jones sung the 22-year-old’s praises.
He said: “The boy’s a player. the last thing that was missing was the goal. I think he’s got the second best assists in the league and probably played half the games of everybody else, so it gives you an idea of the level.
“Izzy needs to have a full season at Luton Town. That’s what he needs to do. He needs to keep scoring and keep creating goals and get his career to the level that it should be, which is the Premier League because we’re all blessed to see a Premier League footballer playing for us in the Championship.
“He’s class and he’s a class bloke. He’s settled in, he’s humble, he’s come from Chelsea and he’s like he’s been a Luton player for the last five years, with the boys. The character is an important aspect as well.”
Brown has now been involved in seven of Luton’s 13 goals in his last nine appearances, and he completed his first 90 minutes since picking up an injury just before the international break.
“We missed him,” said Jones, adding: “He missed the Forest game and the Reading game and they were probably our two worst performances of the season. We’ve got to get stronger as a football club because you can’t just rely on one person, and I don’t think we do, but it’s undoubted, his talent.
“Its undoubted that he’s enjoying his football and he’s getting stronger with every game, but we still had to get him fit again during the international break because he missed two games previous to that. It has been a lot of work to get him back to that level.”
But Jones was also quick to praise opening goalscorer Mpanzu, saying the midfielder was his man-of-the-match, while striker James Collins also came in for some praise.
“Good players find space and good players get on the ball,” he said of Brown, but added, “Let’s talk about James Collins’ performance in complement to Izzy’s quality.
“Think about Collo getting hold of the ball and all of a sudden he’s a left winger who’s got a trick in him, a jink in him and I was delighted with him performances in the last two.
“I’m delighted overall. I can’t think of a player that I would be disappointed with in the last two games and that is incredibly satisfying.”
