New Luton skipper Tom Lockyer admitted his heart felt fine but that the Hatters will have to learn after his and the club’s Premier League debut ended in a 4-1 defeat at Brighton and Hove Albion.
The Welshman last competitive appearance saw him stretchered off after just eight minutes of the Championship play-off final when he collapsed due to an atrial fibrillation, which he needed surgery to correct.
With the departure in the summer of club captain Sonny Bradley, Lockyer was handed the armband and led Luton into a new era, which didn’t start as Hatters would’ve hoped.
“The heart felt fine today, it was the legs at the end,” the 28-year-old said of his first taste of Premier League action.
Speaking of the scoreline which included a Pelly-Rudock Mpanzu mistake to make it 3-1 and then a late injury time strike to add a fourth, Lockyer said: “You get punished. Look at the third goal and then the fourth as well. They’re ruthless, they want to put goals on their tally and we can’t allow that. We can’t switch off.
“That being said, it was two harsh penalties I thought as well but that’s the manner of the Premier League now and we’ll have to learn.”
One of those penalties went Luton’s way, with Carlton Morris making history as the first Hatter to score a Premier League goal, though all the focus was on Lockyer’s end of the pitch.
The centre half said: “It’s the manner of the league now. You can’t switch off at any moment because you will get punished. I think it’s a bit of a learning curve for us.
“You can’t really fault the effort, but if you’re going to switch off at certain times, you’re going to get punished.
“A lot of lads were making their Premier League debut today so (were) not really sure what to expect. We certainly found out the hard way.”
