Mpanzu urges Luton to 'stick together' despite disappointing Carabao Cup exit

Long-serving Town midfielder Pelly-Ruddock knows the Hatters must stick together as they look to bounce back from Tuesday night’s disappointing Carabao Cup exit to League One Exeter City when travelling to Everton in the Premier League this weekend.

Having earned a first top flight point of the campaign with a promising 1-1 draw against Wolves at Kenilworth Road on Saturday, the Hatters then headed to St James Park looking for another positive result to seal their place in round four.

Making 10 chances on the night, the visitors were handed their third shock exit in three years by lower league opposition, having also gone out to Newport County and Stevenage previously, beaten 1-0 by the Grecians.

Mpanzu, who was making his 377th appearance for the club, also given the captain’s armband on the night, knows they can’t dwell on the result though, as they turn their attentions to continuing their survival battle, saying: “I’ve got to rally the troops and make sure everyone’s positive now.

"It’s all about having a positive mental attitude and if things aren’t going your way, you’ve got to be sticking together.

“The boys will be around everyone and making sure everything is done right.

“Everyone’s looking at themselves thinking what more they could have done, but we can’t be too disappointed because there’s a lot more games to come.

"Our main target this year is to stay in the Premier League, but a good cup run could have given us confidence.

“We want to try and win every game, momentum is going to be key this season and we thought we could get a win here, unfortunately that wasn’t to be.

“Exeter played well in spells, they got their goal and they’re into the next round.

"For us it’s full focus on to the league and Saturday.

"Hopefully we make sure we come back to the training ground full of spirits as the main thing now is we've got to stick together.

"We can’t let losses separate the team, so we’ve got to come together, stick as a unit as there’s still a long season ahead.

"We’ve got to try and get some wins as quickly as possible, so we can have some momentum going into every game we play.”

Despite the much-changed team that took the field in Devon, Mpanzu thought the XI selected should have had enough about them to progress further in the competition.

He continued: “Off the back of a great draw, I say a great draw, we felt we should have won against Wolves, we came here with some confidence.

“Rob named a side where he thought he could win the game, unfortunately it didn’t happen.

"We didn’t take our chances, they had one chance at the back stick, and that’s how cup games go.

“We need to dust ourselves down and go again.

"The whole team and the manager is disappointed with the result.

"We thought it could be a confidence booster going into another big game in the Premier League, but we’ve got to try and win every single game, even if it’s a cup game, so a disappointing game all round.”

As the game progressed, Town boss Rob Edwards certainly went for the win as well, bringing on some of his big hitters in the closing stages, although one of them, Issa Kabore was to unfortunately prove responsible for City’s winner, his poor touch seized upon by Deme Mitchell who stabbed past Tim Krul.

Mpanzu said: “When Rob made the changes, he brought on a lot of goal threats and we had a couple of chances, good balls in the box.

"We didn’t attack the box as we should have, in certain areas in certain parts of the game, so we’ve got to work on that in the training ground.

"Issa’s been great all season, those mistakes happen, he reacted well, put a couple of crosses in after, so it’s about trying to put the ball into the back of the net.

"Hopefully that will come within the next couple of weeks, but we’ve got to start as quick as possible and hopefully that will be at Everton on Saturday.”

With over 500 fans travelling down to Exeter and just under 3,000 heading to Goodison Park this weekend, Mpanzu paid tribute to those who made the trek and now wants to repay them with a result on Merseyside, adding: “We’re out of the cup, so that’s (the league) our main focus.

"We’ve still got the FA Cup to come but that’s a couple of months away, so it’s now on to the Premier League season.

"We’ve still got a couple of games before the international break so hopefully we can get some points on the board and push up the table.

"We know how difficult the Premier League is, so we’ve got to get some points and hopefully we can give the fans and the club something to cheer about.

“Even though they cheer us every week, it’s good when you’re winning and getting points, it’s a lot easier when that happens.”