On-loan Arsenal midfielder urges Luton to cut out the mistakes made against United

​​Luton’s on-loan Arsenal midfielder Sambi Lokonga knows his side have to cut out the kind of mistakes that saw Sheffield United leave Kenilworth Road with all three points when winning their crucial Premier League clash 3-1 on Saturday.

Town had already witnessed James McAtee and Cameron Archer miss glaring chances inside the opening 30 minutes, before Archer got away from Gabe Osho to race clear and beat Thomas Kaminski. McAtee then netted following a controversial spotkick awarded for handball against Reece Burke, but in the second period, with Luton back in the contest through their own dubious penalty tucked away by Carlton Morris, another defensive error saw Vini Souza left unmarked to slam home a third.

It meant the visitors left with a precious victory to boost their own seemingly forlorn chances of staying up with a first away triumph of the campaign, as speaking afterwards, Lokonga said: “It’s a disappointing result, it’s the way it is now, we can’t change it, so we need to focus on the next game.

“They started well from the kick-off, they had a couple of chances, we took time to get into the game and after that it was too late to come back. When we had the 2-1, we believed that we could do it, but when we conceded for 3-1 it was more difficult. We didn't stop believing, but after the 3-1 it was difficult to get back into the game.

“We need to learn from this game and check on the mistakes and to not do them again. Sheffield were waiting for the mistakes and to go and counter. They were clever with that one as they got the result, so it’s up to us to not allow these mistakes for the next games.”

Luton finished with 75 percent possession, the most they have had in a top flight game so far this term, but bar a Morris curler and Elijah Adebayo’s close range attempt, never really fully extended visiting keeper Wes Foderingham as they should. Lokonga knows they need to up their attacking threat if that happens again, saying: “We had a lot of the ball, but we didn't create chances and at the end of the day we need to create chances otherwise it doesn’t matter how much we have of the ball.

"They back up with numbers, so it's up to us to find the gaps to attack the back. We didn’t, so it’s up to us to learn from this game. We were favourites, so I don’t know if we had more pressure, but we didn't get a result from being favourites.”

Although the result was a big dent in Luton’s survival hopes, especially as their next two league games sees them host Manchester United and visit Liverpool, Lokonga is still optimistic Town can remain in the top flight, adding: “Of course, we’re believing in the team, believing in ourselves. Not a lot of people were believing in us and we still have to believe in ourselves. We knew the importance of this game, but we didn’t take it, so it's up to us to get and get some results against bigger teams.”

​