Hats off to Jones after Collins treble

NATHAN JONES hailed his “best win” after hat-trick hero James Collins made sure he marked his 200th game as Luton boss in style.

Collins scored twice in the opening half-hour before claiming a second treble of the season in the 66th minute.

It gave Jones his 100th win as Hatters manager and he said: “It’s just a real top performance.

“I’m just really happy with the level and we could have had more than three as well.

“The goalscoring was absolutely clinical.

“The first goal was a wonderful ball and we’ve worked on the movement all week so to score from it was wonderful. A 100th win is always nice and this is the best.”

Luton took the lead in the 20th minute when Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu’s chipped cross found Collins who slid home.

And just nine minutes later Collins headed in from close range after Glen Rea hooked over a half-volley cross to keep a corner alive.

Collins pounced on a loose ball deep into the

Preston half and slammed a low strike into the bottom corner to wrap up the win.

Preston were punished for failing to make their early pressure pay, with former Luton striker Jayden Stockley powering his 11thminute header over.

Boss Alex Neil said: “We got dominated in every department.

“Luton did everything better than us which is very disappointing.

“In terms of competitiveness, that’s probably never happened to us in my memory in terms of being outperformed.

“They competed more than us.”

LUTON: Shea 7; Pearson 7, Lockyer 7, Rea 8, Bradley 8, D Potts 7; Mpanzu 9 (Tunnicliffe 80), Dewsbury-Hall 8 (Berry

80th), Moncur 8 (Norrington-Davies

(74th) 6); Cornick 7 (Clark (75th) 6), Collins 10 (Nombe 83rd)

PRESTON: Rudd 6; Fisher 5, Huntington 4 (Storey (46th) 6), Davies

5, Hughes 4; Browne 6, Ledson 5 (Johnson (46th) 6); Barkhuizen 6 (Maguire (57th) 6), B Potts 6 (Bayliss

(60th) 6), Sinclair 5; Stockley 5 (Riis Jakobsen (57th) 5)

James Collins

J Simpson