Luton boss apologises to supporters as he felt Hatters lacked belief in Bees drubbing

Luton boss Rob Edwards apologised to the Hatters supporters who had to witness a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of Brentford this afternoon, as he felt his side showed a lack of belief for one of the first times this season.

With fans going into the game buoyed by the news that Sambi Lokionga, Gabe Osho and Teden Mengi were all fit enough to return to the starting line-up, Issa Kabore also back after missing the Manchester CIty defeat, hopes were high at Kenilworth Road ahead of kick-off. However, it finished with the same scoreline that Luton had endured at the Etihad last weekend and while in that game, Town’s valiant effort drew praise from both the visiting fans and Edwards, this time his post match lap of appreciation was done with offering a hand to those who were still in attendance for the manner of his side’s timid display.

Speaking afterwards, he said: “I’ve got to say thank you to the supporters who stuck with us and apologise to them as well for having to live through that, a difficult day for them. I know we’ve got a lot of credit in the bank, especially this group of players, for what they’ve given them over recent history, recent past, but we don’t want to go through that again, so we’ve got to respond.

“I’m apologising and rightly so, it’s not good enough and its not been often I’ve had to say that, if at all really this year, but today, I shoulder it. I’m the manager and I’ve got to hold my hand up in that moment.”

The signs were bad early on, Keane Lewis-Potter slicing wide when left unmarked and then denied by Thomas Kaminski, as the visitors weren’t to be denied, Yoanne Wissa with a terrific first time strike on 24 minutes. Tahith Chong then fired over, but Luton fell 2-0 behind on the stroke of half time, Reece Burke’s failure to clear prodded him by Wissa for his second.

This time there was to be no rousing second half performance that had seen Town go close to rescue a result from losing positions against Chelsea, Manchester United and Aston Villa, as they were breached three more times, Ethan Pinnock and Lewis-Potter scoring a quickie brace just after the hour mark to shut down any hopes the hosts had, sub Kevin Schade with a fifth late on.

Although Luke Berry pulled the merest of consolations with a tidy finish in injury time, Edwards felt his side fell short in a number of areas, particularly mentally, adding: “It was a really difficult day. As good as Brentford were, I thought we were equally as bad. Reviewing the goals and looking at them now, I felt we lacked an urgency and an intensity that we haven't really lacked all season long, especially in our defensive work, and that’s as a team, not just the defenders.

"The first goal was a good example of that, a quick turnover and then we don’t close gaps, we don’t quite see it quick enough and they’re a bit sharper on to things. Then first contact from a corner for the third goal, so a really disappointing day and it’s hard to put my finger on it right now. We had our moments in the first half when the game was in the balance, we did, Chongy had a great chance, Alfie (Doughty) had one.

"We got into good positions, but we weren’t ruthless enough at one end then we got punished and we for the first time really this season just looked like we lacked a bit of belief in that second half. That’s something that we’ve got to make sure that we snap out of very, very quickly. I don’t know why its happened as we know the importance of the game and to lose it in that manner is desperately disappointing right now, and a tough day for us.”