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BRIGHTON, England (Reuters) – Luton Town had a rude awakening on their return to the top flight and a ruthless introduction to the Premier League as they lost 4-1 at Brighton & Hove Albion, manager Rob Edwards said after Saturday’s defeat.
It was Luton’s first top-division game in 31 years – back before the introduction of the Premier League – and most pundits see the club as having little chance of survival after their surprise success in the Championship playoffs in May.
But Edwards felt they had been party to their own downfall after being only one goal down at halftime on Saturday.
“I thought we were right in the game at 1-0 and 2-1, but we shot ourselves in the foot. I thought we competed well. The third goal killed us off and we had a lot of opportunities to clear the ball. We didn’t take them and that shows the ruthless nature of the league,” he said.
“In the first half I thought we were solid, compact and aggressive where we needed to be and we retained a counter-attacking threat.”
Luton went 2-0 down after conceding a penalty with 20 minutes left. “I thought it was a bit soft but at 2-0 you’re thinking ‘OK, we’re in it but we need to find a way back in’. We found a way, made some aggressive changes and then disappointed to concede the third.”
Luton got a penalty of their own, which also looked soft, and Carlton Morris reduced the deficit, but the Hatters looked exhausted by their exertions.
“Then they smelled blood and we are trying to find a balance of getting back in the game and still defending. Teams at this level will be ruthless. They deserved to win. But I’m proud of the players, we can take some positives, and we will get better.
“We caused our own problems. There were details we don’t normally get wrong. We need to learn quickly. When we have those counter-attacks we need to be more ruthless. We got in great areas and could have got more,” Edwards added.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
