Darren Jones calls for calm heads ahead of showpiece Bolton clash
Uncompromising centre-back Darren Jones has challenged his colleagues in the Town defence to record another shutout in Tuesday’s Capital One Cup tie with Bolton after keeping MK Dons out in the season opener on Saturday.
Town drew an entertaining match with the Trotters 3-3 just two-and-a-half weeks ago in pre-season, but Jones expects the Championship side to step up a gear now the season is underway.
“It’s just another game we’ll go into and try and win,” said Jones.
“Obviously we want to progress in the cup and its just about going out, keeping a clean sheet and trying to get some goals.
“We need to just keep doing what we’re doing. Apart from scoring no goals on Saturday I think we did alright. We need to go in with the same attitude as we did at the weekend and think we’ll do ok.
“You can’t take too much out of the match from pre-season. Pre-season is just about getting the fitness, I’m sure they’ll be a different side in terms of work ethic come Tuesday and it’ll be a much bigger test. It’ll be good for the lads to see how far we’ve come, so I’m looking forward to it.”
After a frustrating injury-ravaged end to the last campaign, Jones is delighted to be back up and running, and playing, despite being limited to only 45 minutes of pre-season action due to injury.
“For me personally, just getting back on the pitch is good after my injury last season. I felt good against MK Dons apart from getting cramp in the final ten minutes. I’ve had a lack of pre-season games myself but we’re really looking forward to Tuesday now.
“We can build on that clean sheet from Saturday. We can go into Tuesday and kind of relax a bit more with it not being the league, but then next week we can build on it and hopefully keep another clean sheet and add some goals to it.”
Snap up your tickets here for the showcase Capital One cup tie with Bolton on Tuesday (6 August).