Town CEO had 'goosebumps' after witnessing Luton's fans at Stamford Bridge

Proud Town chief executive Gary Sweet admitted he had ‘goosebumps’ after watching the reception that the 3,000 Luton fans gave both manager Rob Edwards and his players after the 3-0 defeat to Chelsea on Friday night.

Despite watching their team give everything only to come up second best on the evening, England international Raheem Sterling scoring twice, the visiting faithful were in superb voice throughout the 90 minutes in West London.

Then, at the full time whistle, the entire away end joined in unison as Edwards and his players came over to show their appreciation, with a truly stunning ovation for their efforts on the pitch that will live long in the memory, scenes that the manager stated afterwards he had never witnessed before.

It was the same for Sweet too, a fan himself, who was watching on in the directors box, as in a statement on the club’s official website, he now wants to see a similar kind of atmosphere when West Ham United visit Kenilworth Road in Luton’s first Premier League home game on Friday night.

He said: “On behalf of the board, my heartfelt thanks goes to every single one of those 3,054 Hatters at Stamford Bridge for their constant noise and encouragement of the team for 90-plus minutes.

“As a board made up of Luton Town supporters, it gave us goosebumps to witness such loyal backing of Rob and the team after the final whistle in what was another encouraging performance on our return to the top-flight.

“Eleven years ago, we were losing at home to AFC Telford in the National League.

"Your support never waivered then.

"Now, on the biggest stage, you are showing the world what Luton Town means to you.

“Conference champions, you’ll never sing that – also proves your sense of humour, and not only do we embrace that we also thank you for your well-mannered behaviour at the Bridge.

“We saw last season how important supporter backing helped so now it’s time to transfer the energy and decibel level from Brighton and Chelsea to a four-sided Kenilworth Road next week.”