The end was better than the beginning and Rob Edwards said this result wouldn’t define Luton’s season as they went down 3-1 at in-form Aston Villa, but the boss said the Hatters must not brush under the carpet the mistakes that cost them.
Kicking off with an 11-game winning home run, the Villans are second top scorers this term in the Premier League, and only by one less than Newcastle, so it was always going to be one of the toughest challenges of Town’s return to the top flight, not least with defensive injuries that saw Gabriel Osho thrust into his first game since the Championship play-off final.
And so it proved as the hosts penned Town in from the kick-off, but the 17th minute opener was immensely preventable. It owed as much to Luton’s naivety from a free-kick as it did John McGinn’s quality because the Scot was afforded acres of space to control on the edge of the area, drive into the box and find the bottom corner through a desperate flash of orange socks.
The Hatters rallied somewhat after the midway point of the first period with Chiedozie Ogbene – Town’s best performer throughout – giving Villa some food for thought with his pace and directness to make it to the interval with a narrow deficit.
But, just as they had done in their previous two games, Luton started the second half by conceding early. This time, Moussa Diaby blasted in after substitute Leon Bailey headed into the striker’s path.
Considering Villa scorelines prior to this contest, where they’d hit four past West Ham and six past Brighton and Hove Albion, among 20 goals in the league at home, there would have been some concern of a repeat.
Just after the hour, it was all too easy as a long ball evaded Teden Mengi and Diaby capitalised to cross the ball where Town skipper Tom Lockyer put through his own net.
“It was a really difficult game,” said Luton chief Edwards, adding: “There’s a dilemma when playing teams like this. If you come out too soon and open up, they can find spaces behind you and in-between you. That’s what they really, really want.
“We tried to have a good plan to limit them playing through us but what was disappointing, and the lads know this as well, and it’s an area that we’ve got to improve, is that when the opposition have a little more time at the back, they can’t get in behind us with one ball.
“There were five or six times throughout the game, and the third goal is an example, where they did with one ball.
“This is for us to now improve and get better. It’s for me to make sure we try to get that across and learn and get better.
“Today was never going to define our season and it wasn’t, but one thing I want to take from this is that we learn and get better from it, and not just brush it under the carpet.
“No, no, no. There are mistakes we made, so let’s learn and get better from it.”
The substitutions of Andros Townsend and Tahith Chong prior to Villa’s third and then Elijah Adebayo on 76 minutes gave Luton slightly more impetus, even though you could argue the hosts were on cruise control by that point, having travelled to Holland on Thursday for their 4-1 Europa Conference League win over Az Alkmaar.
And it was the latter of that trio off the bench that made enough of a nuisance of himself to help earn Luton a consolation when his presence forced Ezri Konsa to put too much on a back header, watching it cannon off the crossbar and in off World Cup-winning goalkeeper Emi Martinez for an own goal.
“It’s going to happen at times this year,” Edwards told the BBC of the scoreline, adding: ” “We don’t want it to but we’ve got to be realistic. It’s going to happen. So then it’s a case of no more. It can’t be any more (goals).
“I’m proud of the lads that we found that next goal. Three-one, even going away from it, it sounds a lot better than four, five or six.
“I was here last week and they scored four again against West Ham. They can do it. They’re in a really good moment.
“With a long period of time to go (after the third goal), you worry at that stage, but the players kept going and the lads that came on had an impact as well.”
Bournemouth’s 2-1 victory at Burnley on Saturday saw the Hatters slip in the Premier League drop zone and this result at Villa Park ensure they stayed there ahead of perhaps the even more daunting task of hosting Liverpool at Kenilworth Road in seven days’ time.
