Luton boss Rob Edwards admitted it was “tough to take” as his Hatters were dumped out of the Carabao Cup by Exeter City after a late mistake saw Demetri Mitchell pounce for the League One side.
The goalscorer then sent off five minutes later for a second bookable offence, but Town couldn’t make the advantage count as they drew a blank for the second away game in a row.
The cup shock was the third time in consecutive seasons that Luton have been knocked out of the League Cup by lower league opposition but, now as a Premier League club, it piles on more pressure to a side that hasn’t yet won in the top-flight.
It was an added blow after Arsenal loanee Albert Sambi Lokonga announced prior to kick-off that an injury will sideline him for a couple of months.
With captain Tom Lockyer also undergoing a scan, Edwards made ten changes with Alfie Doughty the only man to remain in the line-up from Saturday’s 1-1 league draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Teden Mengi was handed a debut after his signing from Manchester United and academy graduate Joe Johnson made his first senior start.
But on the manner of the defeat at St James’ Park, the Hatters boss said: “It’s tough to take. It’s horrible to go out of a competition. I know how much it means to the supporters who travelled a long, long way as well. We had more than enough to win the game, with possession, shots, 10 shots inside the box, you’ve got to do more than that.
“There are areas to improve on. We’ll pick ourselves up. You’re going to go through some tough periods. It’s just a tough night. It’s not like we’re going through a tough period. We’ve seen good performances and I’ve talked about that in the last couple of weeks, but certainly we’ve got to pick ourselves up very, very quickly, because we’ve got a big game at the weekend.”
Luton have drawn a blank in their last three away games in all competitions this term, and have only netted from open play in the Premier League once.
Talking to the BBC about the his side’s lack of firepower, Edwards said: “There’s elements of the game that are a concern for me. Between me and all of us, we’ve got to be better in that final third. We’ve got to find a way to score goals, clearly.”
In an interview with the club’s website he added: “We’ve got to find more in the final third, more creation, more devilment, more desire, more quality I dare say as well, to force the ball over the line.”
On the hesitation from Kaboré that allowed Mitchell to poke home and end Luton’s Carabao Cup hopes, the manager added: “We got punished by making a huge mistake and then couldn’t find a way to get the ball over the line, so, yeah, it’s a disappointing night.
“A lot of fans have travelled and I’m disappointed for them as well. We really wanted to win the game. I know we made a lot of changes but we fully believed in the team that we put out.
“We made some positive changes as well during the game and unfortunately got punished late on.”
But Edwards was keen to draw a line under the defeat saying: “Tonight was a tough night for us but that’s what it’s got to be, just a tough night. We dust ourselves down, pick ourselves up, learn, get better and look to build on the positive things that we’ve done in the league in the last few weeks.
“I know we’ll do that. We’ve got a great group of lads. The effort was there tonight, the commitment was there, you could see that, but we did lack in one or two areas and that’s something we’ve got to really focus on now.”
