Jones hails opening day win as dreamlike
Hatters boss Nathan Jones saluted his team for making the opening day of the season “a dream come true” in Devon.
The Town won 3-0 at Plymouth with a debut goal from Danny Hylton, a second from Jack Marriott and a late third from Jonathan Smith after overcoming the loss of Alan Sheehan to injury moments before kick-off.
Jones said: “It was a fantastic victory – a dream come true really, as you can imagine, us coming away on the opening day of the season and winning 3-0 at one of our promotion rivals. I’m so pleased for everyone.
“We had to contend with a few little hiccups early on. We defended well, and to be fair to Plymouth, they came right out of the blocks. But I thought it was an excellent away performance.”
Sheehan pulled up in between the pre-match Respect handshake and going for the captains’ coin toss with the match officials.
Regular skipper Scott Cuthbert stepped straight off the bench to replace him alongside Johnny Mullins and the pair formed a formidable barrier to the early Plymouth attacks.
Jones explained: “Alan was struggling with his calf but we felt it was a little bit of a kick from training the other day. Just as he came out he felt a tweak and couldn’t risk it.
“But that’s the quality we have, in that we can have a replacement come in like Scotty Cuthbert. He was absolutely immense.”