Hatter skipper Lockyer left extremely frustrated as Town are undone by a set-piece against the Red Devils

Town skipper Tom Lockyer was left feeling extremely frustrated that the Hatters were undone by yet another set-piece goal during their 1-0 defeat at Manchester United on Saturday

After defending valiantly in the early stages, indebted to a marvellous save from goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski from Rasmus Hojland’s close range attempt, plus some wayward finishing by the Red Devils, Alejandro Garnacho, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford all off target, the visitors got through to the break unscathed.

They were given a warning moments into the second period, Hojland outjumping Chiedozie Ogbene to send a downward header wide, before almost on the hour mark, the Hatters fell behind.

As was the case against Spurs and Aston Villa in recent matches, the goal came from a set-pieces, when Morris’s clearance from a corner rebounded off Marvelous Nakamba to Mason Mount.

He found team-mate Rashford on the right as the England international’s cross ricocheted to land at the feet of the unmarked Victor Lindelof eight yards out, the Swedish international slamming home the only goal of the game, giving the otherwise excellent Kaminski little chance at all.

Speaking afterwards, Lockyer said: “You come to United, you're going to ride your luck at times, and we did.

"Tom has made a few great saves, we were more than in that game, so it’s a frustrating one as it is another game with zero points.

"If you look at the performances we put in against Liverpool and now United, if we can have a few more of them I’m sure we’ll pick up a few points along the way.

“The annoying thing for myself is it’s a set-piece.

"We lost at home to Spurs from a set-piece, you come to Old Trafford and you lose on a set-piece, which is frustrating.

"For all the talent these teams have got in their squads, to be losing via set-pieces is extremely frustrating.

“Defend one set-piece and get away nil-nil, I’d be delighted and so would all our fans.

"We’ll try and cut them out, it starts on the training pitch, the old cliche.

"Work hard on the training pitch and all that, but believe me, we are putting it in and full focus now is on to Crystal Palace.”

It was the same for returning midfielder Jordan Clark as well, who came on for his first Premier League outing after the Hatters fell behind, as he continued: “You’ve got to be ruthless in the final third and defend your box better as I heard Locks saying then, we can’t keep giving goals away like we are, especially from set-pieces.

"If you get opened up by a bit of quality you hold your hands up and say fair play, but the Tottenham one was a set-play and today was a set-play.

"It’s fine margins and if you don't do the basics well, you get punished.

"We don’t want to be down the bottom for not doing the basics, so we’ve got to iron that out and I’m sure the coaching staff will sort that in the next few weeks and come up with a plan to sort things a little bit better.”

Boss Rob Edwards was of a similar opinion to his players as well, as he knew Town came close to ending a run of 16 straight defeats at Old Trafford, adding: “I’m disappointed with how conceded the goal, second or third phase from a set-piece and it falls kindly to Lindelof.

"In those chaotic moments, that’s where we’ve got to try and sharpen up.

"It’s difficult to train but we’ve got to find ways to keep working on that sort of stuff, because if we do that bit right then we get something from the game.

"It’s crazy to say but it shows how far we’ve come that we’re coming to Old Trafford and are slightly disappointed.

"I’m disappointed and the players are as well.

"We can take a lot from it, but we all know we want to get more points.”