Harford: That was our worst performance so far

The Hatters had one foot in the Championship with an hour gone at the Pirelli Stadium, thanks to James Collins’ first half goal.

However, Lucas Akins’ second half double condemned Town to a second loss in four games, with the visitors not at the races after the interval, looking surprisingly lacklustre, despite the prize that was at stake

Harford said: “I’ve said to the players in there, we’ve got a chance, one last chance next week against Oxford.

“We didn’t perform today, ever since I was given the opportunity to manage the football club, that was probably our worst performance in terms of the way we played.

“I don’t mind getting beat and I think Burton thoroughly deserved the victory, I thought they played very well, their movement, they were very good and we couldn’t contain them at times.

“So you’ve got to give them a little bit of credit, but overall we’re very, very disappointed.

“We move on and I will not accept the way we played today in terms of the way we played, we went too long at times, we went too direct and it’s not what we’re about.

“Maybe the players, maybe ourselves, the staff, maybe we were a bit edgy, but we felt we didn’t really have any control in the game today and that’s the most disappointing factor.”