Pearson: Brentford might have expected 'easier' fixture after 7-0 thrashing

Hatters defender Matty Pearson thought that the Brentford players might have expected an 'easier' evening at Kenilworth Road on Tuesday night after their 7-0 victory earlier in the season.

Back in November, the Bees ran riot in front of their own fans, condemning Luton to a worst league reverse since 1966 at Griffin Park.

The centre half was one of six players in the team in midweek who had started on that terrible afternoon in west London, while Brentford had nine of the side remaining.

However, Town put that horrific result well and truly to bed, as to a man they were magnificent in registering a third win in four thanks to visiting defender Shandon Baptiste's own goal and Martin Cranie's excellent volley.

Pearson said: “To go there and what they did to us, we owed them one, that’s football.

“They might have had that in their head that, it might have been easier than what they thought, but in football you can’t rest on it and keep going every game.

“It (7-0 defeat) was mentioned more than one occasion in the last few days.

"They’ve got some quality players and we all knew what was coming if we weren't at it tonight, we were going to get it again.

“But we stood up to it. I thought our front lads and our midfield ran their socks off, I can't think of a player who hasn’t, in there we’re buzzing, but it’s finished now, our head is on Saturday.”

Although the visitors had the lion's share of possession on Tuesday night, with 69 per cent of the ball, plus 19 shots on goal, Hatters managed to keep them out, with the hosts' defence and keeper Simon Sluga putting in marvellous displays.

Pearson admitted they had been well drilled in what to expect prior to the contest, saying: “You can see why they’re up there, I’m sure everyone can see how they’ve got that bit of magic, got those goals, but I thought we dealt with it reasonably well.

“These are the games where you’ve got to dig deep, defend the crosses, defend the majority of the game, but we took our chances and we got the win.

“We do our homework, we don’t just go into games not knowing what to expect.

"They’re one of the top three strike forces in the league those three (Ollie Watkins, Said Benrahma and Bryan Mbeumo) up there, so we worked hard, and it’s paid off.”

Although Watkins did eventually break Town's resistance late on, Luton kept their opponents at arm's length for the remaining seven minutes and stoppage time to seal their best win of the season to date, moving to within four points of safety.

Pearson added: "It’s getting to that stage of the season where you can see we all want to be here, and are trying to put in those performances to keep this club at this level.

“There is nerves, we’re feeling what the fans feel, exactly what they see is how we're feeling.

"We’ve just got to be positive, even though we have conceded a goal, we need to be positive and get the game finished.

"You could see after the game how much it meant to us and I’m just thankful it finished 2-1.

"We need to get as many points as we can, no matter how we do it.

"We need to be fully focused on performing the best we can, getting as many points as we can and that’s the key for the upcoming games."