Pearson felt Norwich's Premier League quality was too much for Town during defeat at Carrow Road

Defender believes extra class on display was the difference
Matty Pearson tries to win the ball from Teemu Pukki on SaturdayMatty Pearson tries to win the ball from Teemu Pukki on Saturday
Matty Pearson tries to win the ball from Teemu Pukki on Saturday

Luton defender Matty Pearson felt that Norwich’s superior class shone through during the Hatters’ 3-0 defeat at Carrow Road on Saturday.

The visitors started well in the opening 10 minutes against the table-toppers, who look capable of running away with the title this term, going close on three occasions.

However, the Canaries showed just why they are where they are, with Finland international striker Teemu Pukki hammering home on 12 minutes with his first opportunity, while adding a second from close range just before half time.

England U21 international Todd Cantwell then scored late in the second half to complete the victory, but Pearson wasn’t overly despondent with his side's display, saying: “We didn’t start too bad, but once they get the goal at home, I think it’s difficult and to concede just before half time just made it a lot harder for us.

“To be fair we didn’t give up, but they are a good team and they took their chances when they got them.

“He’s (Pukki) put that away and then you look at the second goal, it’s taken a lucky deflection, but that’s what strikers do.

“They're in the right place at the right time, it fell straight to him, what can you do about that? Bad timing as well, just before half time.

“Second half we came out, gave it a bit of a go, but you’re away at Norwich and their quality got the third goal and that sorted the game.

“These are going up and you’ve seen that today with the quality they’ve got.

“But then again, we’ve beaten them at our place, so we just need to prepare, apply ourselves correctly and any team that we play, we’ve got to believe and know we can win, as we’ve proved it when we played these at home.

“We don’t need to read too much into this, it’s a game at a time and get points on the board, make sure we apply ourselves and perform to the best that we can.”

Striker James Collins had Luton’s two best chances early on, diverting George Moncur’s cross wide, before hitting the post at full stretch from a few yards out after Tom Ince’s cross-shot fell to him.

Pearson also had an opening, firing what looked narrowly wide from 20-yards, as the defender continued: “Collo had that chance, if that goes in it changes the game and likewise they changed the game when they scored their goals.

“It’s just fine margins in that first half and I don’t think any of us let ourselves down.

“We went out there, gave it our best shot, but we’ve got to understand, these are top of the league and running away with it, so you could see the quality today.

“It (his effort) wasn’t that close, when you get an opportunity to shoot, you shoot, but there’s a couple of chances.

“Maybe we needed to create a little bit more, but the way they keep the ball and move it, the movement, any team in the league struggles.

"Today they took their chances and we didn’t do too bad but their quality showed.”