Graeme Jones delighted with response from Luton after going behind

Luton boss Graeme Jones was thrilled with the reaction from his side after fighting back from a goal down to draw 1-1 with Millwall at Kenilworth Road.

Tom Bradshaw’s strike on the hour mark looked to have won it for the visitors, before Callum McManaman popped up with a late equaliser to salvage a point.

Jones said: “I thought they played on the counter when we gave the ball away, they were at their most dangerous with (Jez) Wallace and (Connor) Mahoney, but we coped really, really well.

“They weren’t a threat first half, at all, they scored, I’ll have to look in detail how they scored, but the reaction from our players was magnificent.

“I was absolutely delighted with the character of the boys, as I spoke at the weekend about the same mental and physical consistency in their performance for 95 minutes.

“I feel like I got that again and when you’ve got that, that makes you competitive and it puts you in a position where you’re going to get football results.”

A quiet first half in terms of chances saw James Collins denied by a wonderful save from Bartosz Bialkowsi.

The visiting keeper made an even better stop to prevent Town’s top scorer from opening the scoring in the second period, tipping his volley on to the bar, before Bradshaw struck from close range, after Simon Sluga had parried Jez Wallace’s angled drive.

Bialkowski saved well from Collins once more, before he was finally beaten by McManaman’s 85th-minute leveller, as Lions boss Neil Harris said: “Ultimately, I’m pleased.

“The second half performance was outstanding from the group of players, we were disappointed to concede so late, definitely, there is that and even after conceding we responded again and finished the game really strongly.

“I want to praise my players tonight, we changed shape at half time, we had to change in the game a few times to try and match them, the reaction of the players was outstanding.

“Two draws on the road, both games we could have won, is positive for us moving forward.

“We didn’t really have any issues first half apart from the great save Bart’s made, but then our problem was using the ball again.

“We got to the final third but I thought we were very negative, I thought we turned round too many times, we turned down our crossing opportunities, didn’t have enough movement in front of us.

“The change at half time to match the diamond up and bring Ben Thompson on, it enabled us to win the ball higher up the pitch and be more creative.”

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