Rob Edwards admitted Luton’s away results “aren’t good enough” as Town slumped to a tenth straight defeat on the road, this time at QPR.
The manner of this defeat was one of the most tough to take, as the Hatters showed fight and played some of their best stuff on the road, in patches, but a flukey Morgan Fox goal did for them.
And there was a touch of frustration about the Rs’ first as Edwards said Michael Frey handballed before stroking in from an acute angle.
But despite Rangers taking the lead, and likely confused at how they hadn’t scored two more, Luton levelled with virtually the last touch of the first half, when Mark McGuinness rose high to head home from a Zack Nelson corner.
And after the interval was when Town took control, playing some of their most fluid football of the season that, had debutant Lamine Fanne been more composed, could have seen a first foray into English football end with a flourish.
But then came the killer blow out of nowhere. Ilias Chair’s shot took a wicked deflection off the heels of Morgan, who knew little about it, but watched as an already committed Thomas Kaminski couldn’t scramble back to prevent the ball from tricking over his line.
Edwards was shown on the Sky cameras to be looking forlornly to the heavens as soon as that knocked the stuffing out of his men. He said: “Handball and a deflection. I mean, it’s just the way it’s going. (I was) looking up and thinking, ‘what have we done to be punished like this?’”
But, from there Town got ragged, with McGuinness and Reuell Walters lucky to to have been punished by Alfie Lloyd after mistakes at the back in quick succession.
But still, Town’s goalscorer had a golden chance to snatch a rare away point right at the death but his powerful header, when unmarked, was inches too high.
Before that, Elijah Adebayo squandered another chance and, try as they might, Luton just cannot claw anything on the road.
“Look I’m realistic. I know the results aren’t good enough,” said Edwards, adding: “The lads have given everything. The performance in big spells is there, but we’ve fallen on the wrong side of the line.
“Yeah. I don’t know what else to say. It’s really, really tough. It’s not good enough obviously, ten defeats away from home. Wow.
“Recently, there’s nothing in the games and we’re falling on the wrong side of it.”
Asked about his position, the under pressure Hatters boss, who last week said he wouldn’t walk away from the job, reiterated: “I want to work and we believe in this group. It’s not something I want to do. I love this club. We’ve had great times here.
“This is a really difficult period. And it’s really challenging. Continuing to get hit and we’re on the ropes and getting hit after hit after hit. But no one’s giving up and you can see that the fight is there. And, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”
Asked if he’s had an reassurances from the Luton board that he’ll remain in charge, Edwards said: “No, we’ve not had those conversations.”
Instead, the talk about the result in one that has been done ad nauseam, which overshadowed that Edwards did make some changes that may provide a platform for trying and solve Town’s devastating away returns.
He moved to a back four and though new signing Fanne was played almost as a number ten, when his career in Sweden had seen him deployed deeper, Town carried far more threat than in many of their previous endeavours on the road.
Tahith Chong and Zack Nelson, used out wide, drove at the Rs’ defence with a refreshing sense of directness and chances were created in open play as well as from set-pieces.
But there was still a defensive fragility from crosses and particularly those two almost calamitous mistakes by McGuinness and Reuell Walters after Fox’s fluke, that should have been punished and exposed more by Rangers, but for some wayward finishing and the interventions of Kaminski.
“Certain personnel can help you change the way you play,” said Edwards of Town’s improve attacking output, adding: “I was pleased with a lot of that, but in the end we’re in the results business and. Again, it’s very similar story to what we’ve had in recent weeks, a really narrow loss in a game where there’s nothing in it.
“All right, we gave, Macca and Reu’s errors there in the second half when we’re really chasing. They’ve had a couple of chances there, but they shouldn’t have.
“Minus that in the second half, the goal that was nothing and that’s it. The players are giving us everything, but, yeah pretty beat up at the moment.”
Edwards added: “The way we conceded both goals – an element of handball in the first and obviously a great deal of luck in the second.
“Yeah, it feels like we’ve been here before and done it. Really, really tough to take. The lads gave everything. I thought, minus a couple of poor bits in the first half, where we didn’t mark in the box, which we went through a lot (in training), it’s the reason we probably play the back five a lot. You could see why.
“But then, minus those mistakes, there’s not a lot in the game. I thought then we had created one or two big moments, got the goal, 1-1 at half time, great.
“We started the second half brilliantly. We were on top. We were playing really well. We’re in the ascendancy and that’s when we’ve got to try and strike, obviously. We’ve got to try and score at that moment, but we couldn’t.
“It’s really frustrating. Then when (Paul) Smyth’s down for ages (with a blood injury) and he’s on the touchline, he’s allowed to then come into the middle of the pitch to receive treatment for them to make subs.
“It slowed the whole thing down. That shouldn’t happen. You should just be taken off. Make sure he’s all right. Obviously, get the treatment off the pitch, get the game going.
“I don’t think then the free-kick happens that way then just because it would have been different. Less bodies on the pitch.
“I thought that was poor from the officials, and the goals, it just seems to be the way we’re going at the moment.”
