Match Day Thread Preston North End v Luton Town Deepdale 30/10/2021

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LAST TIME OUT

FORM GUIDE

PNE 5 LUTON 14

MANAGER

NATHAN JONES

Charlton Athletic
On 27 June 2012, Jones joined Championship club Charlton Athletic as their under-21 professional development coach.[16]

Brighton & Hove Albion

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Jones with Brighton & Hove Albion in 2015
On 19 July 2013, Jones joined Championship club Brighton & Hove Albion, filling the new position of assistant head coach, working under head coach Óscar García.[17] Following Oscar's departure from Brighton and the appointment of new manager Sami Hyypiä, Jones changed roles and became Brighton's first-team coach.[18] After Hyypia's resignation on 22 December 2014,[19] Jones was appointed as caretaker manager.[20] Following Chris Hughton's appointment as manager on 31 December 2014, Jones moved back to his role as assistant manager.[21] On 3 February 2015, after the appointment of Colin Calderwood as Hughton's assistant manager, Jones was demoted to the role of first-team coach.[22]

Luton Town
On 6 January 2016, Jones left his role as first-team coach with Brighton to become the new manager of League Two club Luton Town on a two-and-a-half-year contract.[23] He won 11 of his 21 matches in charge during the remainder of 2015–16, guiding the club away from the danger of relegation to an 11th-place finish.[24]

Jones made wholesale changes to Luton's squad ahead of 2016–17, releasing 12 players and signing eight new ones.[25][26][27][28] Jones' Luton team spent only one week of the season outside the top seven positions,[29] while he also led the club to the semi-final of the EFL Trophy.[30] He signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract with the club on 20 March 2017.[31] Luton finished the 2016–17 season in fourth place, but were beaten 6–5 on aggregate by Blackpool in the play-off semi-final, meaning they would compete the 2017–18 season in League Two again.[32][33]

Jones stated his ambition to go one step further and win promotion to League One in 2017–18, saying: "This year we can't have excuses, can't have that naivety about us, can't allow teams to nick draws and cost us our ultimate goal."[34] His summer recruitment was focused on signing experienced players who had previously won promotion, and he succeeded in doing this when signing Alan McCormack, James Collins and Marek Štěch.[34] Luton began the season with an 8–2 home win over Yeovil Town to set a club record for their biggest margin of victory on the opening day of a season.[35][36] Jones was named the League Two Manager of the Month for October 2017 after Luton recorded three wins, one draw and one defeat,[37] including a 7–1 home victory over Stevenage.[38] He would go on to win the award for the second successive month, in which Luton achieved three wins in four league matches, including a 7–0 home win over Cambridge United, scoring 14 goals to climb to the top of the table on goal difference.[39] Luton's win over Cambridge meant they became the first team in the history of the English Football League to score seven or more goals on three occasions before Christmas.[40] They were also the highest-scoring team in the country in early December with 63 goals in all competitions, one more than Manchester City who were top of the Premier League.[41] Jones was nominated for League Two Manager of the Month for the third month in succession,[42] which was awarded to Danny Cowley of Lincoln City.[43] Luton topped the table until a 2–1 home defeat to Accrington Stanley in March 2018 saw them drop to second place for the first time since 21 November 2017, behind Accrington.[44] The club did, however, win promotion to League One on 21 April 2018 after a 10-year absence following a 1–1 draw away to Carlisle United.[45] A week later, they secured a second-place finish in the table with a 3–1 home victory over Forest Green Rovers.[46] After four wins and one draw in April, Jones was named the League Two Manager of the Month for the third time in 2017–18.[47]

Jones continued to take Luton on an upward trajectory during the 2018–19 season, leading the club to second place in League One by January 2019 with the highest number of goals scored. Following the sacking of Gary Rowett, he was linked to the vacant managerial job at Championship club Stoke City in January 2019. On 9 January the club announced they had granted Jones permission to speak with Stoke City.[48] His departure was announced later the same day and he left Luton with the highest Football League points per game ratio of any manager in their history.[49]

Stoke City
Jones was appointed manager of Championship club Stoke City on 9 January 2019 after the club agreed a compensation package with Luton.[50] Jones won three matches of the remaining 21 in 2018–19 as Stoke ended in 16th position.[51] During the summer transfer window Jones brought in ten new players to build his own squad.[52] Stoke made a bad start to the 2019–20 season gaining only a point from the first six matches.[53][54] Jones was sacked on 1 November 2019 after winning just two of the first 14 matches of the 2019–20 season.[55] Despite his sacking, Jones later stated that he didn't regret leaving Luton to manage Stoke.[56]

Return to Luton Town
On 28 May 2020, Jones was reappointed as Luton Town manager, almost 18 months after originally leaving the club to manage Stoke. He replaced the outgoing Graeme Jones, who left by mutual consent the month before.[57] In his first press conference, Jones spoke of his "regret" and "remorse" over the way he initially left the club and that he understood the mixed fan reaction to his exit and return, with hopes that he can earn fans trust back.[58] Jones went on to successfully guide Luton to Championship safety on the final day of the season with a 19th place finish, despite the club lying in 23rd when Jones re-joined.[59] In the following season, Jones achieved a 12th place finish after scoring 62 points - their highest points total in the second tier since the 1981–82 season.[60]

PNE Team News

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Frankie McAvoy confirmed in his pre-match press conference that Matthew Olosunde felt a tight hamstring after Tuesday’s Central League fixture which will keep him out for seven days.

Ched Evans will again miss out, with the forward not yet back in full training, and Josh Murphy is also unavailable due to an ankle injury picked up last week.

Long-term absentees Izzy Brown and Connor Wickham remain out, while Alan Browne will be back in contention after serving his suspension on Wednesday evening.

The Opposition

Luton Town have made a great start to their season, currently sitting fifth in the Championship table.

In the dugout for the Hatters is Nathan Jones, in his second spell in charge of the team from Bedfordshire, the first of which saw him lead his side out of League Two and set them up for another promotion the following term.

Now in their third campaign back in the second tier, Luton will be looking to build on their 19th and 12th-placed finishes.

Key Stats

Luton come in to this fixture five games unbeaten, scoring ten goals in that time, while conceding just twice, keeping four clean sheets in the process.

The Hatters are the fifth top scorers in the division, with 23 in total this term, and seven of those have come from striker Elijah Adebayo, who joined from Walsall in February.

Luton have come out on top of the last two games between the two sides, but they’ve never won three in a row against North End.

Our Last Meeting





Luton won 1-0 on their last visit to Deepdale back in March 2021, with the only goal of the game coming in the 83rd minute.

After Daniel Iversen made a remarkable stop from point-blank range to deny Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, James Collins put the ball back across goal and the Danish goalkeeper inadvertently put into the back of his own net.

Man In The Middle

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For the third time this season, Dean Whitestone will take the whistle for a game at Deepdale.

Whitestone was the referee when PNE beat Peterborough in August, and he also took charge of North End’s 4-1 Carabao Cup victory against Cheltenham Town.

Whitestone will be assisted by Nik Barnard and Geoffrey Liddle, while Sebastian Stockbridge will be fourth official.

MACS VEW

A massive week for the under pressure manager, two extremely difficult away games follow the home game against a decent Luton side who like previous opponents at Deepdale are in the play off positions, after last Saturday's horror show we need a performance, although there is a gap to the bottom three we need to start putting more distance between them however if we only show up for 10 minutes per game we are not going to do that.
Some of those who played on Wednesday put themselves in pole position for playing tomorrow, McCann especially who looked quality against Liverpool. Never want to see manager's sacked but another week of zero points will no doubt see that happen, coincidence Neil potted after we lost at home to these very same opposition last March

 

FM is an enigma. Seemed to get it together after AN was asked to leave but FM's team decisions seem strange. He has broken up the Ledson-Whiteman partnership, insists on playing van de Berg as right wing back while Bauer and Lindsay have struggled and yet Earle and Rafferty are decent w-bs. He has been unfortunate with injuries to the players brought in to strengthen the squad. Like AN, he does know how his team would play...if he had Isy, Connor, Olly and Josh available.

 

Preston North End 2 Riis (1 pen) Luton Town 0

PNE line-up: Iversen; van den Berg, Bauer, Hughes; Barkhuizen, McCann (Ledson, 90+2), Whiteman, Browne, Earl; Maguire (Sinclair, 76), Riis (Potts, 90+2). Subs not used: Rudd, Cunningham, Johnson, Storey.

Luton line-up: Sluga; Lockyer, Bradley (Lansbury, 45), Naismith; Bree, Clark, Rea (Muskwe, 45), Ruddock Mpanzu, Bell; Jerome, Cornick (Onyedinma, 70). Subs: Shea, Hylton, Burke, Campbell.

Referee: Mr D Whitestone

Attendance: 11,059 (989 Luton fans)

Deserved win in a match that wasn't a classic gives a bit more breathing space as the three at the bottom all lost, bizarrely only 6 points for a play off place but any thoughts should be put immediately in the bin.
Luton arrived without their top scorer Adebayo which was a bonus for us, a soggy morning had given way to early Autumn sunshine although was a tad chilly, Noth End played Van den Berg at his natural position as centre back with Barkhuizen as a wing back and in came McCann
First 30 minutes were dire, perfect pitch both sides hoofing it upwards, before the game Luton were in the play off zone couldn't figure out why they were poor but in the first period of the game neither side looked like world beaters.
The game improved towards half time thanks to Mr Whitestone who was at best inept, started with Riis being wrestled to the floor by Bradley no fouland from that moment until half time it became at bit tetchy, meanwhile out of nothing we were in front, Riis about 6 yards from te by line outside the penalty area, curls a right footed shot past Sluga, wonderful goal. Luton forced Iversen into a double save probably the only thing they did in the half. Browne and Lockyer got involved in a bit of afters which led to a bit of a melee (no doubt another fine) The second on half time from tehspot as McCann was flattened by Badley as the ball was going out of play, Sluga got his hands too it but couldn't stop it
Double substitution by Luton at half time they looked better Muskwe denied by a good stop by Iversenn and Barkhuizen also cleared a header from the line shortly afterwards but after the initial surge they started to fade out of the game
Had the chances to increase the lead Sluga saved well from Bauer, Riis denied by the keeper also missed a glorious chance from a great cross by Barkhuizen but it was good to see us playing the ball on the ground, Whiteman, Brrowne and McCann linked well in midfield, Sinclair should have made it three but was denied by Sluga
In the last couple of minutes Luton rallied denied a goal after a Naismith shot was deflected by Bauer going in until the giant left hand of Iversen pulled off a stunner of a save, the resulting corner was headed narrowly wide but Luton got what they deserved from the game, nothing

Preston head coach Frankie McAvoy told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"I thought we started a bit tentative if I'm being honest - we tried to move the ball out from the back and there were a few scary moments for us.

"But once we started to settle down and put our foot on the ball I thought we looked a bit better.

"Goals change games and I felt Emil's strike was magnificent - I'm no way saying it was a cross because he does it in training, he hits things from weird and wonderful areas.

"I was delighted by how we played."

Luton boss Nathan Jones told BBC Three Counties Radio:

"We didn't really look like scoring today, we didn't do the basics well enough.

"I don't think he [Riis] means to score from there but that was a big moment.

"We were a mile off today - we weren't at our level today and I thought Preston were excellent.

"They did to us what we normally do to teams and that's the sad thing - we haven't had a performance like that for a little bit, but it brings us back down to earth."

 

Good and deserved win. Need to keep going for the full 90-97 mins, though.