History-maker Mpanzu thought Luton could be 'proud' of their efforts at the Amex Stadium

​Town midfielder Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu felt his side could be ‘proud’ of the efforts they put in during their maiden Premier League fixture at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, although was left to rue the individual mistakes that saw them eventually beaten 4-1.

​The Hatters had managed to keep their opponents, who finished sixth last season, out for 37 minutes, until Kaoru Mitoma was afforded time and space to pick out a cross for Solly March to score.

After the break, Tom Lockyer’s challenge on Joao Pedro was enough for referee David Coote to award a penalty that the attacker converted, before Carlton Morris pulled one back with his own spotkick.

Another error ended any hopes of a comeback, Lockyer giving the ball away and then Mpanzu himself guilty of a poor touch inside the area, as Simon Adingra took full advantage, Evan Ferguson adding a fourth in stoppage time to seal the victory.

Reflecting on the game, Mpanzu said: “The result was disappointing, but I think we should be proud of the performance.

"They opened us up a couple of times, but most of the goals were our mistakes, not marking in the box, a penalty, me not clearing the ball.

"The last one was good play, ball across the box, but the benefits we can take from the game is we played well, 2-1, we were in the game and just individual mistakes that we need to cut out, as in the Premier League they’re going to punish you.

"So it’s tough to take but I think we can be proud of our performance overall.”

Mpanzu himself created history by being the first player to go from non-league to the Premier League with the same club, as on the achievement, he added: "I wasn’t really too bothered about it.

“There was talk from me making it from non-league to Premier League, that’s done now, it doesn’t really matter as the result wasn't what we wanted to day and we didn’t get that.

“It was nice personally, but everyone wants three points against a great team like Brighton.

"We didn’t get that, and hopefully we can get a positive result in the coming weeks.”

Having played at every level from the Conference, League Two, League One, the Championship and now the top flight, on just what he noticed were the main differences when out on the field, the midfielder said: “The movement on and off the ball.

"Obviously Brighton are a top six side, they showed that last year and we’ve got to learn quickly that we’ve got to get up to the ball and make sure our lines are tight as they’ve got quality players who can hurt you.

"It showed in the first and second half that they can get in behind and carve you open.

"Hopefully we can learn from the mistakes that we made and we’ve still got 13 days before our next game against Chelsea, so there’s more work to be done on the training ground and hopefully we can get a positive result against Chelsea.”

On whether that rest is now a bonus for the Hatters, Mpanzu said: “It can go two ways.

"Some like a little break, it depends how you are as a person, but we’ve got a lot of time on the training ground with Rob, Trolls and Richie to put things we did wrong on the pitch, right, so hopefully we can do that.”

Giving a last word to the 3,001 travelling supporters who made a terrific noise all throughout the game on the south coast, Mpanzu added: "They were great today, even after the game when we came over to them and they were really celebratory with us.

“There were 3,000 of them came down, so hats off to them, no pun intended.

"It’s great they came out in full support and hopefully they can every game with the same spirit and that’s going to help us through.”