Hatters defender knows Town have to address the issue of conceding early second half goals

Town defender Gabe Osho knows his side have to address their frustrating tendency of conceding goals straight after half time which has reared its head in the Hatters’ last three matches.

After putting in an excellent shift at the City Ground when facing Nottingham Forest recently, the Hatters were then breached just three minutes after the restart, Chris Wood allowed to race clear and clip an effort beyond Thomas Kaminski to open the scoring.

Osho was on the bench that day as the visitors hit back to draw 2-2 with their opponents, but he was then on the pitch at the weekend as Luton had managed to keep free-flowing Aston Villa to just a single John McGinn goal in the opening 45 minutes.

However, just as they had done the previous week, Town were again having to fish the ball out of their net after just three minutes, this time Moussa Diaby left unmarked to sweep home Leon Bailey’s far post header.

It was a worrying trend that occurred even before the international break as well, Luton somehow swapping ends on level terms with Tottenham Hotspur, only for the table-toppers to then get the only goal of the contest through Micky van de Ven on 52 minutes, while Pedro Neto put Wolverhampton Wanderers ahead with 50 minutes on the clock during a 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road earlier in the season too.

Discussing the stat at Villa Park, Osho, who was making his top flight debut for the Hatters, said: “We need to address that.

"I’m pretty emotional about it now, so I don’t really know the correct thing to say, but we need to address that.

"We can’t keep conceding goals as soon as we come out for the second half, it just puts us on the back foot.

"Going 1-0 down isn’t too bad, even at 2-0 is okay, but when it’s three it’s where the contest gets a bit tough.”

The manner of the Villains goals on Sunday was also a clear source of annoyance for Osho too, as the opener came from a clever free kick routine that saw McGinn left unmarked to dummy two Town defenders and find the bottom corner.

With Diaby then left completely isolated for the second and a ball over the top leading to Tom Lockyer eventually putting the £52m club record signing’s cross-shot into his own net with an hour gone, the defender continued: “It’s not good, not good.

"Coming to a team that’s high up in the league, you can accept if they carve you open or score a screamer from 30 yards, but a set-piece like that, we’re pretty well set up, everyone’s in, that’s something we have to cut out.

“That being said, I think in general, apart from the moments they scored, we handled the gameplan pretty well.

"We stuck to it, it’s just those moments, we need to stay concentrated for the full 94 minutes.

"Coming into it and seeing what it is, it makes even more sense to me now.”

One thing that did please Osho was the way in which his side kept on going to the end, as they gave their superb 3,000 visiting fans something to cheer about in the closing stages, Ezri Konsa’s header hitting the bar and rebounding into the net off a diving World Cup winner Emiliano Martinez.

It means that Luton’s last four goals have all come after the 80 minute mark, with six of their nine so far this term all arriving in the latter stages, as they continue to have the best goal difference from the teams in the bottom four, which could be pivotal as the campaign progresses.

The fit-again defender added: “It’s important that we keep going in games, whether that’s to get points or for goal difference as that’s what it could come down to at the end.

"So it was good to get that goal at the end and give the fans something to celebrate, it’s just a shame we couldn’t give them a bit more.”