Town assistant insists Luton won't be patting themselves on the back after Seagulls defeat

Luton’s players and staff won’t be patting themselves on the back despite what was on the whole a generally positive showing against Brighton & Hove Albion in their Premier League debut on Saturday.

The visitors turned up at the Amex Stadium, with many expecting Rob Edwards’ team to be turned over by a home side that had finished sixth under Roberto De Zerbi last season, qualifying for the Europa League in the process.

Although the final scoreline suggests that was the case, up until Solly March opened the scoring on 37 minutes, Brighton had been frustrated by a resolute Hatters display.

It then took the hosts until 20 minutes remaining to get their second goal, as with Luton just starting to come to life and sniff an equaliser, they were awarded a dubious penalty for a foul by Tom Lockyer, Joao Pedro doing the rest.

Undaunted, Town halved the deficit through their own controversial spotkick just nine minutes later, Lewis Dunk adjudged to have handled inside the area, setting up a potentially nervy latter stages for the Seagulls, only for a defensive shambles allowing Simon Adingra to make it 3-1, Evan Ferguson adding a fourth in stoppage time.

Although Luton were given a rousing reception from their 3,001 fans on the south coast, discussing the performance, assistant boss Paul Trollope told the club’s official website: “We're really thankful for their support and they were wonderful at the end as well, despite a defeat that we’re not happy with.

"I’d like to reiterate that we’re not good losers, we’re not going to pat ourselves on the back having got beat, that’s not what we’re about.

“When we first came in, we said about being ambitious and taking the club forward, and we’re know it's different in the Premier League.

"We respect people, but we certainly don't fear them.

"We showed that at times today, they’re a good side but we were bold at times.

"We took risks and on another occasion we might have got a goal or two in the first half that maybe would have changed the game.

“It’s (defeat) not the start we wanted, we come away having learnt a lot of lessons.

"There were a lot of positives to take from it, but we're not good losers and we don't want to lose games of football, so we take it on the chin.

"The players’ application and from a tactical point of view, the gameplan was good.

"We knew we were coming up against a quality team who have been very strong, especially here over the past couple of years, but I think we were in a good place in the game in the second half.

"The fans sensed that as well, the fans were fantastic all afternoon and the reception at the end was brilliant.

"We're certainly going to need that moving forward, so overall disappointed, but some good things to take from it.”

Although having had a number of weeks to prepare for life in the Premier League, Town didn’t actually being out there first hand came as a shock to the system for the visitors.

He continued: “No, we know what’s coming in the games, we know the quality we’re coming up against, but we believe in ourselves and we want to be bold in games.

"We want to take risks when it’s right to take risks, and I thought we did that.

"We got in a number of really good counter attacking situations in the first half, we didn’t quite find the end product or the catch-up if you like to create the chances from it, but I think we caused them some real problems.

“Carlton (Morris) and Eli (Elijah Adebayo) worked well together up the top and we had some really good moments.

"It probably showed the ruthless nature of the division later in the game, 2-1, we're looking like we're in the ascendancy, our crowd are up that we're shooting towards them and there’s a good feel about the game.

"We forced a couple of corners, but the third goal really hurt us, it was a poor goal from our point of view, but lessons learned.

"We've got a fantastic spirit, a really good environment and we'll move forward.

"Now we’ve got that little break before that next Premier League fixture, it’s lessons we’ll take to the training pitch and look closely at what happened, what we did well, what we need to learn from and move forward.”

For a number of Town’s players, 13 of the 16 used on the day in fact, it was their first ever experience of the top flight and Trollope is confident they will all be better from it.

He added: “There was a lot of Premier League debuts there, so they learned a lot about the level, the tempo of it and the energy needed.

"Also the quality and making sure that everything we do is bang on as if you lose concentration, or lose discipline for one moment, Premier League teams find it.

"We probably saw that a bit towards the end, but not being too harsh on the lads, as there were a lot of positives and a wonderful effort from us.”