Luton head coach Nathan Jones was left “embarrassed” by his side’s disappointing display, as they were thrashed 5-0 at home to Birmingham City last weekend.
The Hatters were two goals down after 27 minutes thanks to strikes from Marc Roberts and Scott Hogan. The latter scored his second of the game just a few minutes after half time, before Gary Gardner and Chuks Aneke added a fourth and a fifth, to condemned the hosts to their joint-heaviest league defeat since 2006-07.
Luton’s wildly inconsistent start to the new Championship campaign sees them sitting in 11th place, after winning and losing two of their opening four games.
Contrasting performances will be a concern for Jones, albeit at such an early stage in the season, and similar results to those against West Bromwich Albion and Birmingham cannot continue if they are to push for a top half finish or even the playoffs.
Defensive frailties were a major factor in their two league defeats so far this term, with only Reading (nine) having conceded more Championship goals than the
Hatters (eight) so far. Fortunately, they face a Sheffield United side on Saturday who have scored the fewest goals in the division, finding the net just once from their opening four matches.
That one goal scored, by club legend Billy Sharp, was in their 2-1 home defeat against Huddersfield Town last weekend, which leaves Slavisa Jokanovic’s men as one of only four sides who are yet to win in the second tier this season.
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Sharp thought he had cancelled out Josh Koroma‘s earlier effort to snatch a draw in the 92nd minute, however the Terriers immediately went up the other end, with Levi Colwill scoring the winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
The Blades were supposed to be among a number of strong clubs in contention for promotion, but claiming just one point from four games – their worst start to a Championship season since 1995-96 – sees them sitting 23rd in the table, and already nine points behind fellow relegated sides Fulham and West Brom at the top.
Jokanovic, who has secured Championship promotion twice before with Fulham and Watford, has an uphill task in turning the club’s fortunes around, but the performance against Derby County in their 2-1 League Cup victory on Tuesday will have encouraged the Serbian heading into Saturday’s match with Luton
