Hatters boss praises Luton's players for never going under during Villa loss

Town chief Rob Edwards praised his side for the manner in which they didn’t ‘go under’ during Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at Aston Villa, as he knows just how important goal difference could be in the fight to stay in the Premier League this season.

With 62 minutes on the clock, the Hatters conceded a third goal of the afternoon and their second in just 14 minutes when Tom Lockyer turned Moussa Diaby’s cross-shot into his own net.

That left around half an hour of the contest to go, and Town facing the prospect of seeing their goals against column take a real hit from a free-scoring Villa side who had put four past West Ham the previous week and six against Brighton last month as well.

But Luton were able to stand firm, not being breached for a fourth time, and actually going on to have the better of the final stages when Andros Townsend and Elijah Adebayo came on.

They also reduced the deficit as well, when Townsend’s cross saw Adebayo cause a nuisance, with Ezri Konsa’s far too casual back header hitting the bar and rebounding in off keeper Emiliano Martinez.

That meant that Town’s goal difference moved to -11, which is two better than fourth bottom AFC Bournemouth and far superior to the other promoted clubs below them, Burnley (-17) and basement side Sheffield United (-22).

It also cemented Luton’s ability at finishing strongly as from their nine top flight goals scored this term, six of them have now come after the 80th minute.

Edwards said: “It’s important for me, for us, for pride, for supporters, for us to never ever, ever go under.

"We don’t want it to end up being four, five, or more.

"So it was important to keep going, keep plugging away, keep fighting and try to get some pride as well in the game.

"To come away with that final goal is good.

“It gives us a little bit of belief and confidence and it’s also good for the players on the pitch at that moment.”

Although a few supporters may question why Luton couldn’t start in the manner they finished, Edwards knew that had they looked to try and somehow take the game to Unai Emery’s side, who are the leading scorers at home this term, with 20 from just five matches, it would have lead to an incredibly tough afternoon for those of a Hatters persuasion.

He added: “We all realise how good they are.

"I was here last week watching them against West Ham, equally as devastating, I watched them midweek and they were again and they were again today.

"They’re a very, very good team, confident and in a really good moment.

"It was probably a difficult time to come to Villa Park while they’re in such good form.

“We knew we were going to give them the ball in terms of their build-up.

"If we had come out and pressed too soon they’d find their tens where they get into the pockets of space and play through.

"We want to show ambition in the game, of course we want to try and win, we want our fans to cheer us pressing and going, but there was a couple of times in the second half we did do that and then pop, pop, pop, they're round and they’re through us again.

"There’s a balance to be had, and go at the right times and making sure that were closing spaces behind so they can’t play through us.

"They want to invite you on, so they can try and create space, and that was why we had to make sure we tried to stay compact and stay in it.

"We tried to limit them, you know then we’re going to give a little bit of space in behind, so a lot of our work has been on body shape, making sure we’re reading the person’s body language who’s about to play the pass and then making sure we’re tracking the runs.

"We didn't do that well enough, we got sucked in with the movement, then it was in behind and we just got done with some quick, clever play.

"So in terms of the plan and positioning it was good, it was just then dealing with that bit of movement and the pass in behind, excellent from them, avoidable from us.”