Edwards hails his Hatters for staying on the front foot during sensational Seagulls victory

Luton boss Rob Edwards was thrilled his Hatters side remained on the front foot for the duration of their stunning 4-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion this evening.

After club captain Tom Lockyer made an emotional return to Kenilworth Road, taking in a lap of appreciation before kick-off, Town then started like a train, Elijah Adebayo scoring after just 18 seconds and Chiedozie Ogbene making it 2-0 with two minutes on the clock. They never once took a backwards step for the remainder of the game, Adebayo adding a third before half time, and then completing a truly memorable hat-trick in the second period.

Speaking afterwards, Edwards said: “It was a good night for us wasn't it, starting with Locks going out and seeing the fans, the fans being able to show their love, support and appreciation to him. Then we went and delivered a great performance, so really proud of everyone and a really great night for us.

"Obviously not, you don’t (expect to be 2-0 up so early), you try and start aggressively and on the front foot. We got a great start with goals as well, but I still think when you’re going up against a top team and Brighton are, they’re dangerous, we scored two quick goals so why can’t they? We’ve been punished this year quickly by other top teams, so it was important we kept our foot down and kept trying to do the right things.

“That was what was really impressive about us tonight, we were relentless, we didn’t come off. The gameplan was great, the lads committed to it. There was nothing they did that surprised us, so I thought our plan was really, really good. I thought the performance was just brave all round. So aggressive without the ball because we can’t allow them to get into their rhythm and one-v-ones in those big spaces.

"I thought the defenders tonight were immense against top players. The one-v-one duels were outstanding and allowed us to get a foothold in the game, and allowed us to dominate. There's no other way to go, it's the right way for us to go and we talked about this.

"If we stop, we're going to allow them to grow in confidence and belief, so if it's the right thing to do in the first minute then keep doing it in the 99th minute. That's why we had to freshen things up and get the changes right as well, as the way we play is intense and it’s hard, but it's the right way to go for us to get results in this league."