Hatters boss vows his Luton side will 'never ever quit' during battle to stay up

​Luton boss Rob Edwards has vowed his side will ‘never ever quit' in their battle to secure Premier League safety this season.

​The Hatters had looked like they were going to suffer a second successive top flight defeat just over a week ago when trailing relegation rivals Burnley 1-0 as the match at Turf Moor clicked into five minutes of stoppage time. However, Carlton Morris then rose to nod Alfie Doughty’s cross into an empty net after goalkeeper James Trafford had collided with striker Elijah Adebayo, ensuring Luton left with what could be a huge valuable point in the battle to stay up this term.

It means that Town have now scored 10 of their 24 Premier League goals after the 81st minute, a stat that sees them level with Arsenal and Aston Villa, with only leaders Liverpool, who have done it 13 times, above them.

Edwards felt it was a great trait to have, saying: “We were 1-0 down at half time and my last message to the lads was, we came back at Forest late on from two goals down, we turned it around from 2-1 down against Sheffield United recently, we were 3-0 down against Chelsea with 10 minutes to go and nearly got a point from that, we come back, we never ever, ever quit.

"We’ll always be in the game, that’s our aim, that’s what we’ll try and do, so I can really sell that to the boys. The other night, we got the point very, very late on and full credit to the players for that. If that remains, that’s always going to give us a fighting chance, that is something we can really, really play on.”

With Town such a threat in the closing stages, Edwards believes it gives those fans in attendance optimism that a result is always possible as well, continuing: “There is a really strong group there who believe in never giving up. Our supporters won't let that happen either. Even if we hadn’t had got that late equaliser the other day they’d have been really, really pleased with the performance and seen the effort the players had put in, but it almost felt like a little bit of a win the other night, how late the equaliser was.

"It’s great and that allows our fans not to lose belief and lose heart as well. They can always stay with us and keep bringing the noise and making the noise, and that’s really really important for us going forward this season.

"There’s going to be more times where we’re behind and we just know that. I think the fact that we actually talk about it and we’re okay with it, we’re all right with it, means we can actually deal with it out on the pitch. We don’t lose our heads and lose our focus, because we’ve talked about it, we’ve been there before, we know we can deal with it, certainly it’s something that we can use.”

The fact that are able to score so late on is tribute to not just the Hatters’ character and never say die attitude, plus the impact from the bench, with Town's subs now scoring six goals so far, but also their improved fitness levels as well, as they are now able to go well into the 90th minute and beyond.

Edwards added: “Obviously I’d like to score more goals, that’s the hardest bit in the Premier League, to score goals, so that’s first and foremost. Clearly we want to try score in every minute, and early on and give ourselves the first goal, but I do think it shows very, very good character.

"I think it shows good fitness, think it shows that we’re able to change the game, whether that’s tactical, or from the bench, the subs coming on, having an effect, so I do think that’s a positive thing. We’re there and thereabouts with a lot of teams on goals scored, it’s not like we’re massively down on other teams. It’s always something we’re working on, but it’s hard in the Premier League to score goals."