James Bree was left to rue his role in Queens Park Rangers’ equaliser last night, but insisted Luton can still avoid Championship relegation after missing out on the chance to take all three points.
The right back was caught out of position and could only watch as Eberechi Eze countered, feeding the influential Bright Osayi-Samuels beat Sonny Bradley to tee up Dominic Ball to score.
The goal cancelled out James Collins’ first half penalty, which Bree won, and meant that Town missed the opportunity to climb out of the bottom three with two games of the campaign remaining.
The Aston Villa loanee had his work cut out to deal with the power of Osayi-Samuels and he said of the wide man: “He’s real pacey, he’s got a trick and he’s done well for the goal, but I think I should’ve taken Eze out on the halfway line and given a foul away, but that’s just how football goes sometimes.”
Last night’s draw was the second successive time at Kenilworth Road that Town have taken the lead only to be pegged back and have to settle for a draw.
Bree said: “I think it’s happened a couple of times since lockdown where we’ve got that early goal and we keep telling ourselves, ‘keep pressing on and get that next goal’.
“With the situation, we put ourselves in it’s mentally tough sometimes to get on the ball and keep pushing forward when we know we’ve got something to defend against.
“Against a team like that, and a couple of players they’ve got, like Eze in the ten, it’s tough to defend for a full 45 minutes against someone like that.
“I think we did well and still created loads of chances and I think we should’ve won the game but that’s just how it goes. It’s another point towards safety and let’s see what we can do.”
The draw moved Luton to within one point of safety and Charlton, who play Birmingham tonight, and set up a must-win match at fellow strugglers Hull City on Saturday.
Asked if the players are still confident of avoiding relegation, Bree said: “1,000 per cent. Obviously, we’re a bit downhearted that we didn’t get the win, but I think everyone knows that Saturday’s the big one, a big six-pointer so I think everyone’s heads are back up.
“We know what we’ve got to do and we’re going to do it.”
