Having gone in at the break 1-0 up, Town conceded three quick fire goals in the second half, meaning the Hatters start the New Year with a defeat.

Jones said: “The game plan worked really, really well but we couldn’t sustain it. I think the goal came on 69 minutes so for seventy minutes it was fine, I know we were under a bit of pressure, we tried to change it to get up the pitch a little bit and it’s been the story of our away season really, since Blackburn we have found it difficult.

“I could easily talk about the positives but I don’t think anyone wants to hear it, I just think it was a resolute display for 70 minutes. Lots of good, certainly better and a bit more resistance than what was shown against Bristol City so that would be a positive. But we couldn’t hold out and that is where the disappointment is.

“I think we just tired a little bit, we couldn’t get up the pitch anymore. We tried to bring Luke on because Bradshaw kept popping up from being a number nine to a number ten and we weren’t dealing with it.

“Then we tried to get Harry on the pitch, by the time we got Luke Bolton on the pitch it was 3-1 and it was too late. It’s just where we are, we are a little bit short and we need to get our best players fit, we need to get a couple of players in. We need to re-energise the club, re-energise the players, freshen it up and get ready to get a minimum of 20 points in the next 20 games.”