Wary Luton boss refuses to label crucial City triumph as a turning point

Luton boss Rob Edwards refused to label Tuesday night’s last-gasp 2-1 win over Stoke City as any kind of turning point in his side’s season, knowing full well that his words would be cheap when faced with Town’s Achilles heel this weekend, a game away from Kenilworth Road.

The Hatters have been met with a number of false dawns already this term, as only once have they managed to get back-to-back victories, that coming when triumphing 1-0 at Millwall and 2-1 over Sheffield Wednesday back in September. The other three wins Luton had managed to secure before Tuesday, has seen them lose the next game as successes against Watford, Cardiff and Hull were followed up by defeats to Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Leeds.

With that in mind, and Town, who have lost their last six away from home, conceding 20 goals in that sequence, now travelling to the division’s in-form team in Blackburn Rovers, who are on a five match winning streak, not being breached in their last four fixtures, meant Edwards wasn’t about to go shouting from the rooftops.

He said: “I think the way it happened, winning late, always adds to that euphoria, but we’ve got to go and back it up now. I’m not going to be saying this is a turning point or it feels big because another game comes round quickly and you get slapped in the face. We’ve got to make sure we concentrate on doing our job, keep our heads down and work really, really hard for each other.

"You can see they’re doing that. It would be great if we could get that consistency now and get a run of results going, we’ll certainly try to do it, we are trying everything at the moment to find that. We want to win games of football, we want everyone to be proud of their team. It’s been hard, especially after the weekend, wow, it was tough, it was tough to take. So let’s enjoy this right now, but we have to, there’s no getting away from it, we’ve got to try and find a rhythm and some results away from home.

Another thing that Town have also failed to do is recover from conceding first as they are yet to get any kind of point on the road when that has happened. Taking the lead hasn’t helped either, Luton losing at Coventry from a position of being 2-0 up with an hour gone, while also conceding a 1-0 advantage at Norwich in their 4-2 reverse.

At home it hasn’t been quite as much of an issue, as they fell behind against Stoke in midweek, recovering to triumph, something they had done so against Sheffield Wednesday earlier in the campaign, also hitting back to draw with West Bromwich Albion as well. Having conceded first on Tuesday night, Edwards praised his players for the way in which they didn’t allow what could have been a ‘toxic’ atmosphere to fester, especially after Luton’s fans had quite audibly let their displeasure be known with their side’s efforts during the 1-1 draw against Swansea City on Saturday.

Goals from Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo sealed the comeback, as on lot letting the setback knock their confidence, Edwards added: “It didn’t and that was huge for us as that’s probably our biggest thing. Probably more away from home, but it could still affect us here, with how the feel was at the end of the game at the weekend and then going 1-0 down early, it’s almost like which way is everyone going to go now?

"The reaction was great, because if the reaction had turned everyone into their shells and we could have gone under, then the whole place would have been toxic wouldn’t it. It would have been a really difficult night for us, so the reaction from the players was brilliant, really good and that in turn then transmitted to the supporters.

"I thought the fans were right with the lads, which was great. We were actually quite brave, we didn’t have too many defenders on the pitch, we didn’t. You’ve seen the make-up of the team, we went for it, had about three defenders and six forwards. Clicker (Jordan Clark) is learning that midfield role more now, but he’s still an attacking midfielder really as well.

"There was more of a confidence, more of a belief, there was more bravery shown, more risks taken, more commitment to run forward, get numbers in the box, all the stuff that we asked them to try to do. We weren't perfect, there was still lots of mistakes, there always is, we’re human beings, but it was better and we won, so that’s kind of all that matters at the moment."