Edwards doesn't expect Luton to have any trouble picking themselves up for Forest after 'freak' Cherries loss

Luton boss Rob Edwards doesn’t think there will be any issue in lifting his players for what is a massive relegation six-pointer against Nottingham Forest at Kenilworth Road on Saturday after what he called a ‘freak' result at AFC Bournemouth on Wednesday night.

The Hatters became the first Premier League team in over 20 years to suffer defeat after leading 3-0 at half time, joining Leicester City and Spurs in having the unwanted record of frittering away such an advantage. Although clearly shell-shocked and distraught at the full time whistle, with a number of players on their haunches, Town now have to somehow get themselves going again when hosting a Reds side, who are just three points above them this weekend, with victory seeing Luton leapfrog their opponents and climb out ot the bottom three, closing the gap on Everton and Brentford too.

Edwards doesn't expect their to be any scars hanging over from what happened at the Vitality Stadium, remaining confident in his players’ morale levels due to the magnitude of what lies ahead, as he said: “It will be tough right now, it hurts right now, we’re going to have to watch it back and try and dissect it, learn from the moments where we know we can be better. But we’re going to have to try and show some of the positive things as well, show a lot of the good stuff and say lads, we can score goals, we’ve done it consistently now for quite a long time, we do look a threat.

"This can happen in football sometimes, these freak, freak things, and we’ve got no alternative, no other way. If we feel sorry for ourselves, I feel sorry for myself, then we’re not going to get a result against a team that’s got similar qualities and strengths to the team we played, so let’s learn from those areas, learn from these bits and try to take that into Saturday’s game. But if we’re struggling to get ourselves up for a Premier League game, we know what it means if we win that game before we go into the break, we’ll be struggling and there’ll be something wrong.

"These lads have shown time and time this year that they bounce back, they go and give absolutely everything and that’s what we’re going to have to do on the weekend. I know we’ve lost our fair share of games this year, in that manner it does hurt, but if we can’t pick ourselves up for a huge Premier League game, then there’s something wrong. There’s no alternative, we won’t give the players, or anyone, any chance of feeling down. They’re allowed to feel down a little bit now, but we’ve got to pick ourselves up quickly, and realise that okay we’ve lost a game of football, that we performed really well in the first half, and a team have then played really well themselves and found a way to win.

"So credit to Bournemouth, there’s obviously areas we can do better, but they showed some brilliant football, power, quality, and skill as well to win the game and it hurts now to say it, but it was a mixture us being poor in certain areas, in aspects of our defending second half and brilliant play and brilliant attitude from them to find a way to win.”