Nathan Jones talks about Dagenham, Pigott and challenge ahead away to Oxford
We caught up with Nathan Jones ahead of our visit to Oxford United on Saturday.
On the Dagenham game Jones commented "We were superb in the 1st half, and in the second half we did enough to nick the game. They came back strongly in the second half and could have nicked it, but in the end we thoroughly deserved the win and it could have been more.
Joe Pigott came on as a second half substitution against Dagenham. On his Performance Jones mentioned “He has real quality in his finishing, it’s just that he may be lacking a bit in games, and in confidence a little bit at times. I thought Joe showed a lot of character on Tuesday night. He’s a player I believe in, I know him and what sort of a player he is. I thought he had a dangerous edge about him, but I think he just needs that first goal. I’m sure we’ll see his quality before the end of the season.”
The boss was hopeful that Jack Marriott would be available for selection after carrying a knock into the Dagenham game. “If I’m honest, he probably shouldn’t have started. Jack wanted to play, and probably didn’t do himself any favours, but we wanted to take the risk. We’re hopeful he’ll be fit for the weekend.”
On Oxford, Jones said “They’re not second in the league for nothing. It’ll be a good contest for us and we’re looking forward to it. We’ll be ready for Oxford.”
On his decision to drop midfielder Cameron McGeehan to the bench, Jones explained "It was just a case of fatigue with the player having played a lot of games this season".
Regarding injuries “I’m hoping we might get one more back, Jake Howells is training very well – so he’ll be available. We could risk Scott Cuthbert, but we want him back safely, so we’ll see how he is in the morning”.
The Hatters travel to the Kassam Stadium to meet Oxford United on Saturday.