Undeserved Villa defeat leaves Hatters boss the 'angriest' he has been so far

Luton boss Rob Edwards admitted the manner of this evening’s last-gasp 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa left him the ‘angriest’ he has been so far this season.

With Town trailing 2-0 at half time courtesy of an Ollie Watkins brace, Villa showing just why they are challenging for a top four spot this term, the Hatters did superbly to hit back and draw level with 15 minutes to go, Tahith Chong and Carlton Morris both finding the net. However, the hosts then switched off in the final minute, as Moussa Diaby swung in a cross from the right and Issa Kabore, who had just been named man of the match, switched off, allowing Lucas Digne to power a header beyond Thomas Kaminski to win it for the visitors.

Facing the press afterwards, asked how he was feeling, Edwards said: “As you can imagine, down. It’s always hard and difficult to come out after a defeat, but one where I feel like, and I might be wrong in saying, but I feel like we don’t deserve to. Based on the performance and the chances we created, so many things, it’s really difficult to take right now. It’s probably the angriest I’ve been today, yes.”

Asked if that had been with Luton’s display in the first period, Edwards continued: “Not at half time, everyone gets fixated on goals and scorelines, the performance was decent in the first half. We conceded from a corner, from a quick turn over in transition and we conceded from a quick free kick. It’s hard to get behind Aston Villa, they’re a team fighting for Champions League, what are we expected to be, 2-0 up against Villa? I don’t know.

"There was lots to like about the performance in the first half. We were a lot more solid than against City, it’s just difficult to get behind them. They’re so well organised, it’s difficult to get around them, hard to create chances, so just because we were 2-0 down, there wasn’t loads wrong. We shifted one or two little bits, we asked them to up the intensity more because it doesn't matter now, we’re 2-0 down, the games done, so we might as well leave it all out there as we always do.

“We found a way to get back into the game with loads of quality, loads of endeavour, loads of passion and heart. I thought the crowd were brilliant and it hurts to concede in the way that we did late on. There’s so much to like about how we played against a brilliant team, but we’ve done that before. Same story.”

Once Luton had got back on level terms, it looked like they were the ones who were going to go on and win it, Morris putting a downward header too close to Argentinian World Cup winner Emiliano Martinez. However, despite barely featuring as an attacking force, Villa went on to claim all three points, but Edwards didn’t think they paid the price for not opting to settle for a point.

He added: “If we do that, we concede chances, too many chances and I want to win the game. We’re in the business of trying to win games of football, three points helps us more than one, one helps us more than none, I know that, but I didn’t think we took any more unnecessary risks at 2-2. We wanted to win the game, it’s not in our nature at home especially to sit and take it unless we’re getting forced to do that.

"Villa weren’t necessarily forcing us to sit back and defend, so there’s no need to do that, and I think if we invite pressure, with the quality that Aston Villa have got, they’ll find a way through. I know they did anyway, but we could have been better in that moment.”