'Winner' Chong can't take any joy in opening his Luton account during Burnley loss

​Midfielder Tahith Chong couldn’t take any degree of satisfaction from scoring his first goal of the campaign during Luton's 4-1 hammering at the hands of Burnley in their season opener on Monday evening.

Much is expected of the Curaçao-born attacker by Town boss Rob Edwards this term after his impressive second half of the Premier League campaign in which was one of the Hatters most dangerous players, ending up with five goals from 30 appearances. With the buzz whenever he got on the ball noticeable against the Clarets the former Manchester United youngster gave Luton a lifeline with 55 minutes gone, timing his run perfectly to sweep Alfie Doughty’s header into the net after the wingback was picked out by Shandon Baptiste’s pinpoint first-time cross.

It was to prove a false dawn though, the Clarets netting twice more in the latter stages to take a comfortable three points, as speaking afterwards, Chong said: “I want to help the team wherever I can, but to be honest, now it’s difficult to talk about the goal when we’ve lost 4-1. For me I feel like I’m a winner, regardless of how I play, I want to win, so for us it’s about taking the next step. Maybe in the future when we win a game, I can look back and say I got my first goal, but at the moment that’s not the case.”

Boss Rob Edwards had been hugely pleased with the manner of the goal from a player he feels is going to have a vital role in helping Luton achieve their dream of an instant promotion back to the top flight, especially as he felt it would see the hosts go on and get something from the game. He continued: “I thought he finished the season so, so well and his level in pre-season has been brilliant.

“His level in training every single day is so consistent, I’ve been delighted with him, so I’m really excited to see what he produces this season. I know he’ll be a really, really key player for us. It was a really good goal, we built well, it went to Carlton (Morris) and Chieo (Ogbene), it was good. At that moment we had lots of momentum and thought we were going to get back into it.

"That injury, that long drinks break that got manufactured then, slowed things down. The third goal was a little bit of a killer, we’ve got to deal with the corner, obviously. There was a foul on Shandon in the build up to them getting that corner, which I’m disappointed that didn't get picked up, but we’ve got to deal with the corner.”

Hopes had been high going into the contest among the near 12,000 fans in attendance, with much being made in the build-up by Edwards about he is looking to make sure Town stay in the second tier for just the one campaign. That didn’t look the case after a tough 90 minutes, but with the Hatters quickly back in action at newly-promoted Portsmouth on Saturday, Chong added: “We’re disappointed to start the season like that. The Championship is a quick turnaround, we’ve got a game on Saturday, a game which is going to be a big one.

"They’re (Burnley) a good side, but we feel like we’re a good side as well, so we’re disappointed. In the changing room we spoke about stuff that didn’t go as well, we spoke a bit about the positives as well, so we’ll take them and look forward to the next game. For us it’s important for us to go and watch the game back, see what we could have done better, that’s everyone, including myself. Then it’s learn quickly because the Championship, in two or three days you’ve got a game again, so it’s about preparing for that game and going out there to perform.”