Edwards accepts pressure is firmly on Luton at Kenilworth Road after awful away run

Town boss Rob Edwards accepts that the pressure is on the Hatters to replicate their recent home form when welcoming Swansea City and Stoke City to Kenilworth Road this week.

​After looking like they had begun to turn things around with only one defeat in four, albeit all those three unbeaten games were in Bedfordshire, Town then returned pointless from their recent trips to Leeds United and Norwich City. The two defeats means Luton have now lost six times in a row on their travels, as in front of their own fans, although performances have still left a bit to be desired, Town’s results have been far better, Edwards’ side recording four wins and two draws from their last seven fixtures.

With the Swans sitting 13th and the Potters 14th, then anything other than two victories will see the discussions surrounding Edwards’ future ramp up, as on the expectancy now being far greater at home, the Luton manager said: “It is and rightly so. There’s always pressure on us, but we’ve got to stand up, dig in and we’ve got to make sure we show the fight we have done at home and we did for the majority of the game here (at Norwich).

“We’re getting results at home, we want to keep that going obviously and then we need to try and find that way away from home. We’ve got two home games in quick succession, so we want to be able to build on what we’ve been able to create at home which is important. You want to win your home games anyway, in any league, whatever division you’re in, at any stage, we want to try and keep that going of course.

"The support has been amazing there and on the whole the performances have been more than okay, they’ve been good there as well, so that's why the fans have been with us there. There’s no doubt we need that, but I understand football, you don’t win unless you’re winning. We’ve got to win, we’ve got to get results, home and away, and that’s when people are happy, but at the moment there’s a good feel when we’re at Kenilworth Road which is important and of course we want to be able to rely on that.”

Despite seeing his players toss away a point in East Anglia, there was far more fight to Edwards afterwards than there had been after witnessing the 5-1 hammering at Middlesbrough last month, as he continued: “That day I felt there was a bit of a capitulation, I felt really low, I don’t feel like that. I’ve re-energised myself, I’m ready to fight and ready to dig in, but I need every one of those players to do that with me as well.”

Luton’s last few home games have often felt like a turning point for the Hatters, before being followed up by an away reverse that has almost seen them take two steps back once more. It’s something that Edwards wants to finally stop as he looks to lead Town away from the relegation zone they are hovering far too close to for anyone’s liking, adding: “We’ve seen it up and down the country, people can go on runs, both ways, ours has been a little bit different.

"I’ve felt it a few times, we’re back, we’ve found a rhythm here and then something’s knocked us again, almost in game as well. I think of that first half hour at Boro and then how we’ve finished, it was a little bit baffling at times. It’s difficult to put your finger on that, the confidence and belief, a positive mindset is good and trying to think positively, and talking.

"Positive body language is something we can talk about, think about, and then positive messages, clarity in how we’re working, in terms of the plan, what we want to try and do. You can’t be hyper critical of people as you don’t want to floor people, but at the same time, there’s got to be a degree of honesty there, what we need to see more of and where we need to be better as well, but it is really difficult to just click your fingers and find that.”