Nathan Jones dedicated Luton's 2-0 win over Swansea City at the weekend to a Cardiff City fan who passed away.
Jones brought his players to south Wales on Saturday and left with all three points thanks to goals from Allan Campbell and Carlton Morris.
It was the Hatters' first win of the season, and Rhondda boy Jones revealed it was extra emotional for him after he attended the funeral of a friend's father on Friday.
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Roger Thomas, Jones added, was a huge Cardiff fan, and he dedicated the win in SA1 to his memory. Jones himself, of course, is a lifelong Bluebirds supporter, which you can read more about here.
"I’m absolutely delighted to get the first win," Jones said post-match. "It has taken a little bit of time to come. We were excellent in the first two games of the season and could have won both of them – and definitely should have beaten Birmingham.
"We were terrible in midweek and went away from being us, but today we were outstanding. Our discipline was great and out of possession it was as good a performance as you will see.
"We denied them very little and we looked a threat. It was the perfect away performance. They are a good side. I watched them against Millwall and could have been out of sight. They are a very good technical side who pack the middle of the park.
"But I thought we were brilliant and when we brought the finishers on we upped the tempo. We are a high energy side that teams don’t like playing against. We went away from that on Tuesday.
"That wasn’t my team on Tuesday night at Bristol City and I’ve had a couple of emotional days since then. I had to come home to bury the father of one of my friends on Friday. Roger Thomas was a big Cardiff City fan and I dedicate that win to him. My team gave me the perfect tonic because that was my team out there."
Luton have endured a slow start to the season, registering just one win so far in a far cry from the dizzy heights of last season which saw them achieve an improbable play-off place finish.
And Jones puts their sluggishness down to the schedule, hitting out at the EFL over the way the fixtures have fallen for them.
"We have had a ridiculous month," he added. "I don’t know who is doing the fixtures. You had Millwall having to come here on Tuesday night and then go to Norwich on Friday. We had to go to Bristol on Tuesday and then come back down the M4 today.
"It took us nearly seven hours to get to Swansea on Friday because we don’t have the finances to fly. Some absolute buffoon somewhere is setting these fixtures. Nobody is looking at how we can look after these players. We didn’t get back until 3am on Wednesday morning and then we had to come to Swansea on Friday.
"Half of the M4 was shut, you come past the Brynglas Tunnels and it was carnage. It is terrible and the EFL don’t do anything about it.
"I am proud of that performance and we know where we are as a team. We work hard as a team and we are hungry and humble. We won’t get carried away, but this is something to build on in a really long season. We had less rest than any of the others teams, other than Huddersfield a disjointed pre-season with flights. That’s why we started slowly.
"Wins like this mean so much after the funeral. The funeral was in the Rhondda Valley in Ty Newydd."
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