Campbell knows Luton have to be more clinical in both boxes after tough start to the season

Town midfielder Allan Campbell knows full well that his side need to be more clinical if they are to get back on to the winning trail this season.

The Hatters had 18 attempts against Preston North End on Saturday, but just two on target, as they went down to a 1-0 defeat, meaning they are without a win in four league and cup games so far this term.

Luton have drawn blanks twice in the league as well, as they only have Dan Potts’ goal at Burnley to their name in almost five hours of football.

At the weekend, Carlton Morris put his downward header too close to Freddie Woodman, as although Campbell was crowded out by the keeper too, the second period saw Cauley Woodrow, Campbell and Elijah Adebayo all put efforts off target.

The Scottish international said: “We knew coming into the game that the first goal would be important.

"Trying to chase the game in this heat, they scored their goal and made it difficult for us, by timewasting and controlled the game well.

“On the other hand, I thought we could have been more clinical in the box, that’s just the thing we’re missing at the minute, taking those chances.

“We had a lot of shots but not a lot on target.

"It’s just the final thing we do with the ball, and it’s what matters in both boxes, they were clinical with the chance they got and we weren’t.

"It’s just a wee bit of composure for everybody.

"It will come as the performances have been decent, we’ve been solid, limited them to little chances, they had their chance and they were clinical with it.

"It’s not as if we’re not creating anything, we’re creating chances, it’s just the final detail that will come.”

Although the visitors were guilty of a number of fairly obvious game management tactics throughout the game, with referee Dean Whitestone not clamping down on them until the latter stages of the fixture, handing out a number of bookings, they managed to frustrate the Hatters and comfortable close out victory.

The official further annoyed Luton fans by failing to award two penalties for fouls on striker Elijah Adebayo in either half, as Campbell continued: “He definitely felt the first one should have been a penalty.

"I’ve not seen it back yet to decide, but the referee makes the decision.

"Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don’t.

"We still had a lot of chances to get a goal, so it’s just part and parcel of it.

"Fair play to them, they managed the game well, but we still felt in control of the game.

"We had a lot of the ball, so just be more clinical, I think that’s what we need to take away.”

Campbell was confident that Town will be able to put things right in front of goal when heading to Bristol City tomorrow evening though, as he added: “Going into every game you think you should be winning and I think as a club we should be winning these games.

"But it’s football, we’re not going to dwell on it.

"There are many games to come, so we’re going to recover well over the next few days, look at what we need to get better at, look at what we can do to beat Bristol City and make sure we do.”