Nathan Jones gives his thoughts ahead of our EFL Cup match against Leeds United
After a disappointing result on Saturday, Town manager Nathan Jones is hoping to recreate the same heroic Hatters performance against Aston Villa once again when we take on Leeds United this Tuesday.
A last gasp goal from Stevenage on Saturday condemned Luton to a 2-1 loss and their first defeat of the season.
Although the loss was disappointing against the Boro, Nathan Jones said he was still impressed by the performances of his players.
“Apart from taking our chances, I thought we were excellent.
“I didn’t realise how dominant we were until I watched it back, I knew we were dominant in the first half and we controlled the game, we had some wonderful opportunities and should have got more than the one [goal] we did.
“But I thought second half it was more of an even game, it was a little bit end-to-end at times, we had so many opportunities, so many good positions, I am bitterly disappointed to have lost the game in the manner we did, but that’s football.”
The loss marked the end of a four match unbeaten run, which knocked us off top spot in League Two.
The Hatters take on Leeds United in the EFL Cup tomorrow, a tie they earned after defeating Aston Villa 3-1 at Kenilworth Road two weeks ago.
Over 1600 Hatters fans travelled to the Lamex Stadium, making up almost half of the attendance, and Jones said he hopes fans don’t look at Saturday’s result and choose not to come tomorrow night.
He said: “Leeds travel very well, I hope our fans turn up and don’t just look at the result on Saturday and go ‘urgh!’ because the performance level didn’t match the result.
“I am really hoping they turn out and we give them a really good night, because it is fantastic game for the football club and it is fantastic game for us to test ourselves once again.”
Leeds, managed by Garry Monk who Jones says he knows well, won their first league match of the season on Saturday, beating promotion hopefuls Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 at Hillsborough.
In that winning side was last year’s League Two Player of the Year, Kemar Roofe from Oxford United, who Nathan Jones knows poses a real risk amongst other United signings.
“I think they’ve recruited well, he [Roofe] is one that did very well at League Two, clearly he was above League Two, but this will be a good test for him.
“They have signed a friend of mine, Luke Ayling, who is an established Championship right-back really as they have got a good hungry group, they have got a good team spirit and I think they will do well.
“I know Garry very well, he was a player I played against many times.
“I spoke to him after he left Swansea all be it a little bit unfairly, harshly if you like, he was doing good work there, it’s good to see him continuing his work at Leeds.”
The Hatters welcome Leeds United tomorrow in the EFL Cup, with tickets still available for the match from our website and the ticket office by the Kenilworth Stand.