Luton chief not happy just accepting a narrow defeat in the Premier League

​​Luton boss Rob Edwards isn’t happy to just accept a narrow defeat in the Premier League after his side’s 1-0 loss at Manchester United on Saturday.

The Hatters headed to a ground they had lost all 16 of their previous visits with realistic hopes of getting something from the contest due to the Red Devils’ inconsistent form this term.

Although Erik ten Hag’s side dominated large parts of the first period, they failed to take their chances, which meant Edwards was by far the happier of the two managers at the break.

However, just before the hour, defender Victor Lindelof popped up to score what proved to be the winner with a close range finish.

Although once more Town’s goal difference didn’t take too much of a hit, as it means they have only conceded one against each of United, Liverpool and Spurs, just avoiding a heavy loss isn’t something that Edwards is looking to do this term.

He said: “We know we’re giving a lot away, this is one of the biggest clubs in the world and we’re a newly promoted team.

"We were a relatively small team in the Championship, so today was always going to be a mountain for us to climb to get something from the game.

"We were going to have to be excellent, United were going to have to be off it, and we nearly did, but I don’t want to accept that and don’t want to settle for coming away with a narrow loss.

"We wanted to take something from here, I want to take points and the players do as well.

"We’re disappointed in that dressing room, we were flat after the game as we believed that we could and if it wasn’t for one moment where we’ve just switched off, one chaotic scramble, we could have been coming away again with something.

"It’s great to get something from Liverpool, the performance was good, it wasn’t like we had to get something from Manchester United away.

"We know we need to get more points but there are probably other games we can target a little bit more.

“That being said, I go into every game believing we can win or get something from it, but it’s just such a huge challenge in the Premier League, it’s so, so difficult, it is.

"The players (from Manchester United) are really good, this club are in a bit of a difficult moment, but they’ve still got some world class players, and the expectation was on them today.

"Credit to them they won the game, they had more chances and more of the ball than us, but we fought really, really hard and showed a lot of good qualities.”

Although Town produced yet another decent performance on the road at Old Trafford, it still led to an eighth defeat from 12 matches this term, as AFC Bournemouth’s victory over Newcastle meant the Hatters now three points from safety.

Edwards wasn’t worried about being in the bottom three at this stage of the campaign, but knows Luton have to start picking up the points he feels their displays are deserving of.

The Town chief added: “I want to be on more points, but in terms of where we are, we’re in the fight we thought we’d be in, everyone probably thought we’d be in that.

"We are progressing and improving in the way I hoped, we learned pretty quickly after the first two games and since then we’ve been harder to beat.

“We’ve been in a lot of games, we could have potentially had one or two more points than what we’ve taken, especially at home.

"So what I’m seeing is a team that’s really committed, they’re improving, they’re working very, very hard for each other, they’re a team that fights to the very end.

"All right we didn't create any big chances, but we’re still putting the ball in the box and trying to find an equaliser here at United and they're seeing the game out, so I'm seeing a lot of good things.

“What we’ve got to do now is put that into points, so what we can concentrate on is the performance and in the main they’ve been really good, they have, as we’re giving a lot away, we are.

"I think the players are showing they’re tactically very aware, they can adapt in game and I think what they’ve shown in the last two games against two giants of football, is we’ve got some good players as well.

"They showed that last week against Liverpool, and today, especially second half, with how brave we were.

"People talk about how Luton play, we weren’t direct, we looked to take the ball, create some overloads and try to have some control in the game as well.

"So I think we’re improving the way I’d like us to be, but I’d like us to have more points.”