Chong thought Town were 'unfortunate' to end up with narrow Chelsea loss

Midfielder Tahith Chong was left to reflect on what he felt was an ‘unfortunate’ defeat against Chelsea on Saturday, with Luton edged out 3-2 at Kenilworth Road.

The Hatters had trailed 2-0 at the interval, before Chong was introduced along with attacker Chiedozie Ogbene for the start of the second period. The pair couldn’t have an immediate impact though, Town conceding again to Cole Palmer’s second of the afternoon with 20 minutes still to play.

Chong then played his part in helping the hosts roar back in the latter stages though, as first Ross Barkley scored with a glancing header from Alfie Doughty’s corner, Elijah Adebayo cutting the deficit even further with a close range volley before time ran out on the hosts’ chances of a leveller.

Both Adebayo and Carlton Morris had hit the crossbar, while Adebayo saw a goal ruled out for a tight offside decision against Doughty during the second half, as Town sent wave after wave of attack at the Blues’ goal.

Discussing the performance, the former Manchester United and Birmingham player said: “Throughout the season we’ve faced adversity but the way we react all the time, that’s just a squad thing where everyone keeps going and keeps trying to do something positive for the game.

“It was unfortunate. We hit the crossbar as well and had loads of opportunities. It’s positive as we’re creating chances, but we want to put them in the back of the net. There were some close ones that were inches away which were unfortunate, so we’ve just got to keep working.”

Although Chong was one of the stars of the second 45 minutes, he was eager to talk up his team-mates’ efforts in trying to rescue a point as well, continuing: “The gaffer just said come on and try to impact the game. I don’t think it was only me, Chieo and all the players coming on. With the players that were still on, all 11 second half, we pushed and tried to still do something positive in the game.”

Although the manner in which Town performed meant the hosts once more left with plenty of plaudits for their display, as they have done from a number of narrow defeats this season, including against Arsenal and Manchester City, that didn’t dampen the disappointment felt by the Hatters players, who missed the opportunity to make it three wins in a row for the first time this term.

Chong added: “You see the changing room, it’s still disappointed and that says a lot about where we’ve come from and how we’ve grown as a group, to still want to get something out of that game. As a team we’ve grown so much and it’s so good to see. It’s what we’ve always done week in week out, we’ve kept on improving as a team, and I think for us it’s can we go again, can we improve again and can we get better every single game.”