Brown felt Charlton clash had been a 'must-win' for Luton

Luton’s 2-1 victory over Charlton Athletic on Tuesday night had been a ‘must-win’ contest according to on-loan midfielder Izzy Brown.
Izzy Brown celebrates Luton's midweek win over Charlton with captain Sonny BradleyIzzy Brown celebrates Luton's midweek win over Charlton with captain Sonny Bradley
Izzy Brown celebrates Luton's midweek win over Charlton with captain Sonny Bradley

The Hatters went into the game on the back of five straight Championship defeats, a run that saw them slide into the relegation zone.

Another reverse would have seen the gap to the sides above them increase, but goals from Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu and Brown himself enabled Town to gain some much-needed ground, moving out of the bottom three and close in on both Reading and Huddersfield once more, with the Addicks now just six points in front too.

Brown knew the importance beforehand, saying: “It was a must-win, there was no question.

“We knew we had to win the game, because if we didn’t, we’d feel like we were in trouble and the confidence would have gone.

“So I think now we’ve just got to kick on and hopefully the results will come, the performances will follow and well be good.”

However, boss Graeme Jones hadn’t put any extra significance on the clash despite Town's recent poor run.

He said: “None more so than I normally put on myself or the team.

“No, I knew we needed to get a football result, there comes a point where that has to take place, but I treat the game the same as any other.

"I just asked the players to take a bit more responsibility and they did.”

Brown, who netted his first goal for the club during the victory, felt that his team-mates produced an almost perfect display against one of their fellow promoted teams.

He continued: “I think the performance on Saturday (against Leeds) built us up for this game as it gave us so much confidence that we can put a performance in like that against one of the best sides in the league.

"The manager said we have to go and do exactly the same against Charlton, and we’ll go and get the win.

"I think from every player, it was flawless. We made one mistake for the goal, but other than that, everyone played a perfect game.

"To get the win after five losses is big for us, and it’s given us confidence to go to Brentford now and really believe that we can go and put on a good performance in against any team."

The Hatters had fallen behind on just seven minutes when Sonny Bradley gave the ball away and then couldn't keep up with Jonathan Leko, who went through to beat James Shea.

Town’s reaction to the error though was something that greatly heartened their manager.

He said: "Yes, Sonny makes a mistake, we can all see that, but what I loved about it, all the boys rallied round him.

"The boys helped him, the boys got him out of trouble, and then Sonny was magnificent from that point onwards.

"So that was so satisfying as we’re human beings and we all make mistakes, but the character of the boys, the boys wanted to win tonight.

"The boys wanted to win in every game this season, in my opinion, forget Reading, but sometimes there's a lot more to winning a football match than just wanting to win.

"Sometimes you’ve got to have confidence, sometimes your tactics need to be right and sometimes you need 11 brains on the same page.

"There was a common theme, a common goal and it was to win the game, no matter how, no matter what and we got that..

"I trust the players, I trust their characters, I don’t say that lightly, I trust that they care, I trust that they want to keep a good Charlton team out, that’s a nice feeling when you get to that."

Despite falling behind, Brown had remained confident the Hatters always had the capability of getting a result.

He added: “I felt like from the start of the game we were on top.

"Mistakes can happen any time, I make mistakes going forward and I lose the ball, but when a defender makes a mistake, normally it ends in a goal.

"It’s nothing we can’t come back from, we had confidence from going 1-0 down to Leeds and then we scored again really soon.

"So going 1-0 down, it just shows what kind of character all the boys have to dig in deep and get the win."