Hatters chief rues individual errors as he is at a loss to explain Pilgrims defeat

Luton boss Matt Bloomfield admitted it was hard to put his finger on just why the Hatters were so poor defensively during their 3-2 defeat to Plymouth Argyle this afternoon as he was left to rue a number of individual mistakes made by his side.

Going into the contest, the hosts were on the verge of setting a new club record for the least amount of goals conceded at the start of a Football League season, breached just three times in their opening six matches. However, that amount was then doubled in 90 minutes by the Pilgrims, who despite playing the final 40 minutes, plus a further 10, with a player light after captain Joe Edwards was sent off, were able to claim the three points.

Asked if he could understand why Town had been so poor at the back, Bloomfield said: “No, I think it’s hard in the emotion of the moment now to put your finger on why because again, the goals against has been incredibly good since January. So for three goals like that to happen all in the same game, we have to put some emphasis on it and some time on it and hope we've got those mistakes out of the way and go back to being the really solid defensive team.

“As the more opportunities we give to our opponents to get in front, it makes life hard for ourselves. Our defensive record, solidity, since we've come in in January has been very, very good. We've barely given a goal away from mistakes of ours in a while and then three in the same game, it's very disappointing, very frustrating, but again we win and lose together because it’s both ends of the pitch. As a group there’s no finger pointing, that’s not how I conduct myself, it’s about taking responsibility together and making sure we learn and get back to work Monday morning."

The Pilgrims’ first goal came after 15 minutes when Town appealed in vain for an offside flag that never came, which allowed striker Lorent Tolaj to cut in and curl a pinpoint cross for Matthew Sorinola to send past Josh Keeley with a diving header. On the opener, Bloomfield continued: “I haven’t seen it to being offside, I’ve not seen it to that degree. It was the first shot they had against us, we were playing in their half and we've got young players learning the game as well at times. We've to give them time to make mistakes and learn from them, that's part of the process with young players and we'll support them through that and make sure we get better."

With Jerry Yates levelling quickly from the penalty spot, Town looked destined to go into the break all square, only for Zack Nelson to lose the ball just outside his own area which allowed Bradley Ibrahim to set himself and then hammer past Keeley. Town’s chief continued: “Zack’s a young player who we think incredibly highly of and he’ll learn from that and he’ll improve. It was a good finish, but we’ve seen out the pressure we've won the ball back and then it’s in the back of our net, so we’re disappointed with all three goals we've given away.”

The third meanwhile came when Luton had got it back to 2-2 and seeing their opponents down to 10 men were going in search of a winner themselves. However, an ambitious shot from the half-way line by Tolaj was running well wide until Keeley tried to control it, the ball taking a nick and going behind for the most unnecessary corner.

With visiting manager Tom Cleverly then sent off before the set-piece was taken, it led to a delay as he exited the pitch, as the deadball was half cleared and when Nelson’s deflection was saved by Keeley, Jordan Clark hammered the loose ball against Ibrahim as it flew into the net for what turned out to be the deciding strike. Bloomfield said: “Josh is going to be disappointed with that. The ball is running wide so either control it and bring it back up the pitch or we get a goal kick. Then from the corner we see out the first moment and then the deflection ricochets and goes in the back of our net, all three goals are extremely disappointing.”

Meanwhile, questioned as to just what he will have learned from the performance, Bloomfield added: “That individual mistakes will be punished whatever level you play at. If you make defensive errors to that degree you'll concede goals and make life hard for yourselves. So while we have put a lot of emphasis on attacking in the last few weeks as we want to be a team that entertains at home and scores goals, we have to make sure that we don't give opportunities to our opposition in the manner that we did today. We have to be really solid as a group and be really hard to beat as that’s the bedrock of any successful team.”