Luton boss Jones bemoans slow start against Coventry
Posted Wednesday, March 14, 2018 by PA
Frustrated Luton manager Nathan Jones stressed his side’s slow start cost them in their 2-2 draw at Coventry.
The Hatters’ title bid hit another unwanted snag after only picking up a point at the Ricoh Arena.
They are now playing catch up with Accrington despite being the runaway league leaders mere weeks ago.
Coventry were two up at half time after Peter Vincenti’s fourth-minute opener and Marc McNulty’s free-kick on the stroke of the break.
Scott Cuthbert netted after the restart before top scorer James Collins popped up with a vital 88th-minute equaliser to nab a point.
Jones said: “First half we started very poorly.
“We wanted to come out of the blocks quick. We picked a side that was going to be energetic, press and work hard.
“Within a minute we made a few errors in terms of not defending well in wide areas and not marking on the edge of the box. The keeper parries a shot to their man and suddenly you’re 1-0 down and your game plan’s gone out the window.
“I’m delighted with the response we showed in the second half and you have to give the players credit for that.
“We came out fighting and got a point which is a real mood lifter after being two down.
“It’s one of those games where you’re disappointed with the situation you found yourself in but delighted with the way you got yourself out of it.”
The Sky Blues are chasing the play-offs themselves and are firmly in the mix after a point.
Ryan Haynes produced a moment of magic in the lead up to Vincenti’s opener.
Some deft trickery took him between two Town defenders for dead on the left before Vincenti mopped up the rebound from Tom Bayliss’ parried strike.
Top scorer McNulty was at it again as he carefully curled a free-kick into the bottom corner after Jordan Shipley’s dummy on the stroke of half time.
Ten minutes after the break Cuthbert rose highest at the back post to nod Alex Sheehan’s free-kick beyond Lee Burge.
Top scorer Collins then had the ball in the back of the Sky Blues’ net before the linesman’s flag went up.
But Collins made no mistake at the second time of asking, heading home Luke Gambin’s cross with two minutes left.
Coventry boss Mark Robins said: “It’s disappointing because we’ve thrown away two points really.
“Having said that a point takes us into the play-offs and it’s a 10-game season for us now.
“It was a good advert for League Two football. We started off quickly, played some good stuff and took the lead early on.
“We dealt with them pretty well, got into a two-goal lead.
“A clean sheet obviously wins you the game, we’ve been decent with that especially at home but we conceded a poor first goal.
“They get their tails up and they end up getting the second at the death.”
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