Edwards hasn't noticed any kind of negative mindset among his players when Luton go away
Town chief believes mentality is right within his squad
Hatters boss Rob Edwards hasn’t noticed any kind of issue with his players’ mindset when going away from home this season despite an appalling run of seven straight defeats on the road.
After starting the campaign with a goalless draw at Portsmouth where the visitors were down to 10 men for over an hour, Luton then lost 1-0 at Preston North End, a game they dominated, before beating Millwall 1-0 at the Den. From then on though it has been nothing but misery, Town not picking up a single point in their last seven fixtures, conceding 22 goals in that time, including heavy defeats at Middlesbrough, Leeds and Norwich City.
With three of the next four matches in the Championship away from home, starting at Bristol City on Boxing Day, Edwards didn’t think his squad were worried about the prospect of heading out on the road, as he said: “When we’re preparing for the game, when we’re going there and speaking to them before you get a sense of the players’ mindset, it doesn’t feel like they’re thinking, ‘oh god we’re away from home,’ it doesn’t feel like that at all.
"There’s been good performances whether it’s been for 40 minutes, 60 minutes, 80 minutes, whatever, but we’ve just not taken anything from the game. I know there’s been one or two games where we’ve not quite got it right, but I don’t feel like it’s a big thing in the mindset of the players. I really do believe that they’ll be a good plan there, the boys have to stick to that, and we know we can get results away.”
One thing that has been a huge cause of frustration to Edwards is the frequency in which his side have been breached outside of Bedfordshire this term. The last game at Blackburn was the perfect example, conceding twice in eight first half minutes to ensure the hosts had a comfortable second period, with the same thing happening at Coventry, Leeds, Norwich and Middlesbrough as well.
It’s something the manager has made clear to his players that has to stop, as he continued: “We’re not necessarily going to play well for the whole 95, 97, 98 minutes, but what we’ve got to do is if we’ve made a mistake, not back that up with a second or a third or a fourth as if you do that then it’s in the back of your net. That’s been a big message this week, we’ve been working a lot on out of possession and it’s a big, big message.
"Mistakes are going to happen, we know that, but what can’t happen is that we go chasing and make another one or one mistake can’t become two, can't become three as then it’s difficult. When you go away from home, you’re not going to have the territory, not going to dominate the whole game, and Bristol City like to have the ball so there are going to be spells where we’re going to have to be really really organised. We’re going to have to defend well, really diligently without the ball, but that’s been the big message. Don’t let one mistake become two or three and that’s really important, as that’s what’s happened in quite a few of the away games.”
Town can at least head to Ashton Gate with a spring in their step after what turned out to be a thrilling 2-1 victory over Derby County on Friday night, Tom Holmes and Carlton Morris scoring in the dying embers to secure a welcome three points. It was the second home game in a row that Luton had scored a last-gasp winner after having trailed, and the third time in which they have hit back from conceding the first goals, a trait Edwards was pleased to see.
He said: “I don’t know how many teams would have done that this year, to come back and win from behind three times does show that the lads are with it and fighting. You could sense from me after the game I would love it to look slightly differently and for us to not have to do it and come from behind, but it did feel great and felt good for the boys as well and I'm sure the supporters were happy, going home with the result, so that side of it was good.
"The pitch was difficult as well, the conditions, it’s not necessarily going to be the prettiest of games at the moment in the winter, but good character, good spirit, never say die attitude, which I think we’ve had since we’ve been here. We’ve scored a lot of late goals. I know last year we conceded some late ones as well, but you kind of know why.
"But from our second game when Cauley (Woodrow) scored that late goal against Norwich, we’ve always done that. We’ve always kept going until the whistle and that’s really important that we do that. We know now how difficult it will be, but the atmosphere after the last result, the manner of it, the way it happened, has been great.
"The lads have trained well, so let’s go and take it into an away game and hopefully get a positive result. We’re desperate to try and back that up now, back-to-back results. We want to see a good performance, we’re going to need a good performance to get anything from the game anyway.”
Although the Robins haven’t been in the best form themselves at home, having won just three matches in front of their own fans all term, currently on a run of one victory in their last seven matches, on the test that Liam Manning’s side will bring, Edwards added: “They’ve got a good way, Liam’s a really good coach.. They’ve got some good players and we’ll expect the best of them.
"Home or away, they’re a match for anyone when they get their game going, if they’re allowed to as well, so we’ve got to make sure that we’re really, really at it, there’s no doubt about it. They’ll want to react after Monday’s game (2-0 defeat to West Bromwich Albion), I’m sure it will be a really good crowd. Boxing Day game, they’ll want to put on a performance so we’ll expect the best version of them which is good, so it should be a good game.”