Edwards wants to see a 'ruthless' Hatters after 'horrible' shoot-out defeat to QPR

Luton boss Rob Edwards has urged his side to find their ‘ruthless’ approach after what he labelled a ‘horrible’ way to exit the Carabao Cup on penalties at fellow Championship side QPR last night.

The Hatters certainly weren’t without their chances during the 1-1 draw over 90 minutes, having 21 shots, but only seven on target, with six off, the R’s defence also making eight blocks as well. Town also had 12 corners and 38 touches in the area, as their only goal came from youngster Zack Nelson, with an absolutely magnificent strike from outside the box, picking out the corner of the net with a truly wonderful controlled volley.

Elijah Adebayo was denied by home keeper Joe Walsh, who also saved well from Carlton Morris’s close-range header, as a disappointing theme to the early stages of the season season continued, with Luton having scored just two goals in their opening four matches of the season. The worrying trend in Town’s last two matches means they have had 38 shots, 11 on target, 13 off, the opposition making 14 blocks too, with 74 touches in the opposition box, but only have Nelson’s wonder strike to their name.

Speaking at Loftus Road, a frustrated Edwards said: “It was a really good game, we created loads of chances, got into loads of good areas and we just need to find that ruthless killer edge. That will come, but it’s a horrible way to go out losing that way as we should have won the game, I think, comfortably in 90 minutes. They’re not going in, there were some good saves, good blocks, poor finishing as well from one or two elements and it sort of tells a story. We score a worldie, Zack, an amazing goal from him, but we don’t want to have to be relying on that kind of thing.

"I’ve got to try and look at the bigger picture, it was very good. There was a lot of good stuff, we almost had to treat it not literally, but like a pre-season game, with three of the lads (Marvelous Nakamba, Reece Burke and Amari’i Bell) only being able to get 45 minutes. Everyone came through unscathed which is good, the plan was to always look after Carlton and Clicker (Jordan Clark) with the turnaround being so tight in a few days time again, so that was good.

"People playing minutes and getting through it was a good performance. Young Zack I thought was amazing, so good things, but again, people want to hear me talking about a win and that’s what we’ve ultimately got to try and find. Last year was obviously difficult to do that and then people become sick of hearing me say, ‘yeah, we played well,’ as that was some of the stuff we were saying last season.

"It’s really evident here at the moment, we’ve got to find that win and I think that will give everyone that confidence and believe again, but we’re going the right way about it. You can see it with your eyes tonight, you didn’t see a team that was disjointed or not running, or not trying, or not creating chances. You saw all that, but unfortunately we lost on penalties.”

Edwards had demonstrated his desire to get some confidence into his front men, with Adebayo and Tahith Chong completing 90 minutes, Morris getting 75 minutes until being replaced by Cauley Woodrow. On his decision to go with such a strong side, Edwards continued: “I just felt it was the right thing to do, find that rhythm and I thought we did look even more threatening again tonight. I thought we were hitting areas better in the box when crosses are coming in, so that was what the thinking was. It’s just difficult to find that winning edge, but it will come.”

After a shoot-out that saw Woodrow’s effort saved, Alfie Doughty score, but then Chong hit the bar, Town still received a good ovation when going over to their 1,045 supporters after QPR scored all four of their attempts, as Edwards added: “Thank you to them again as well tonight, they were good at the end there. They’ll be frustrated but I think they can see as well that there was a really good performance, so they were top as always, thank you to them.”