Nathan Jones savours ‘wonderful occasion’ after Luton secure second place



Posted Sunday, April 29, 2018 by PA

Nathan Jones savours ‘wonderful occasion’ after Luton secure second place

Luton boss Nathan Jones hailed a “wonderful occasion” as the Hatters finished their home campaign in League Two with a 3-1 win over Forest Green.

Goals from Danny Hylton, Olly Lee and Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu saw Town ensure second place, with Accrington sealing the title.

“First half was at times as good as we’ve played and we should have been out of sight, absolutely out of sight,” said Jones.

“We should have been two, three, four (in front), but these are a dangerous side and they play with real freedom, and they did that.

“Second half, they got the goal from poor defending, and it looked like it was going to peter out.

“Then we made a real positive change, brought (Harry) Cornick on and then finished really, really strong, but we have that.

“If sides don’t take their chances against us, and Forest Green had one or two, we know we can punish teams, but it’s just a wonderful occasion.

“I’m very proud, the fans deserve it, the club deserves it, we do things the right way, ever since I’ve come here.

“We’re building a football club and this is just the first phase of what we’d like to achieve.

“We thoroughly deserve it and I’m very, very proud of this football club.”

Hylton broke the deadlock on 20 minutes, James Collins’ shot saved by Cameron Belford, only for Town’s leading scorer to score his 50th goal for the club.

Belford had excelled in the half, denying Hylton, Dan Potts and Elliot Lee, and Rovers got back into the game when leading scorer Christian Doidge rifled home on 53 minutes.

The visitors might have spoiled the party, Reuben Reid narrowly shooting wide, but with five minutes to go Olly Lee swept in Cornick’s cross, with Mpanzu adding the late gloss in injury time.

Rovers manager Mark Cooper said: “I thought we were brilliant in the second half. We deserved to get something out of the game but when you’re at the top of the league you earn that little bit of luck they got and that’s why they’re top of the league.

“We had chances to kill the game in the second half but we didn’t. I’m really proud of the players, I thought they were brilliant.

“Fair play to Luton, they’re a really good team. They deserve that little bit of luck.

“I’ve challenged the players to see if they could compete in these types of games. It’s an achievement for us to stay in the EFL and we can be stronger next year, which I’m sure we will be.

“We recruited well in January and we got ourselves to safety.”

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