Town skipper insists Hatters players must take accountability for woeful away form
Luton beaten for a 10th match in a row on the road
Striker Carlton Morris has insisted Luton’s players must take accountability for the club’s horrendous away form which has led to the increasingly worrying position that the Hatters find themselves in this season.
Town’s 1-0 defeat to Norwich City on New Year’s Day saw manager Rob Edwards and the club’s board come in for severe criticism from the Kenilworth Road crowd, many of them calling on the Hatters’ hierarchy to make a change in the dug-out. It was also the case following Monday night’s 2-1 loss at QPR, a result that saw Luton remain 20th in the table, just two points off the relegation zone, as they have now lost four games in succession, with 10 straight defeats on the road.
Although Edwards is the one bearing the brunt of the flak from supporters, skipper Morris believes it is only he and his team-mates who can turn things around to relieve the pressure on the manager, saying: “It’s brutal, that’s the job. It’s his face on it which is unfair really as ultimately once we cross that white line, it’s in our hands and we’ve got to do more.
"I’m all about accountability and taking accountability. I don’t want to make excuses or put it on anyone else, I put it on myself and the players. We’ve got to find a way to get results away from home. Our home form has been decent, but we’ve got to do it home and away and we’re not quite doing it at the moment, but we won’t stop until we do.
“We love him (Edwards) and it’s tough to hear, but it’s part of the job isn't it. The fans, they work hard all week to pay their well earned money to come and watch us perform. If we’re not doing that ultimately it’s going to reflect on us as players and the manager so we’ve got to take that on the head. We need to look closer to home and we need to start weighing these games more in our favour to make sure we’re coming out on the right side of the result.
"There’s going to be some tough conversations in the changing room amongst players and there already has been, so we’re taking back accountability and we’re going to look to move forward. I don’t think I can say a bad word about the lads in the effort category and the running stats they back that up, but ultimately we need to find a way to get results away from home and whatever the answer, we are going to find it because we work too hard not to and that’s not going to stop, we’ll never give up.
“We’ve got to put it on us at the moment, there’s no excuses. We need to find a way to be better in both boxes as these games, the last three especially, they’ve been tight, could go either way and we’ve found ourselves on the wrong side of the result in each and every one of them. We’re working so hard every day at the training ground to try and right these wrongs, but clearly we need to keep grinding and grinding hard to set this away form straight as it’s nowhere near the level we’ve set ourselves.”
Despite Town’s appalling record on the road, they were still cheered on by over 1,000 supporters at Loftus Road on Monday night, as their away attendances haven’t dwindled during the shocking sequence of results. It was something that Morris was eager to mention too, adding: “Ultimately I have to say a quick shout-out to our away fans.
“Especially going over to them, clapping them, we haven’t been giving them anything away from home recently and that’s on us, but the support is massively appreciated. This club, this community is tight knit, always has been. When it’s going well we’re together and when it’s not going so well we’re together and that’s a huge help. When we come out of it, which we will inevitably, as it’s a great set of lads that are willing to work hard and when we come out the other end, that won’t be forgotten.”