Rob Edwards admits ‘it’s nice to be in mix’ as Luton move into play-off places
Posted Monday, January 02, 2023 by PA
Rob Edwards expressed his delight as Luton moved into the play-off places after coming from behind to beat Huddersfield 2-1.
The Hatters secured a third successive victory under new boss Edwards in only his fourth game in charge, as they moved up to fifth in the Sky Bet Championship.
Duane Holmes scored an early opener for the Terriers, who were also in pursuit of a third win in a row in their quest for safety.
However, Amari’i Bell’s leveller before the interval and Reece Burke’s late winner turned the tide in Luton’s favour.
Only Sheffield United have won more points on their travels than the Hatters this term, who again impressed on the road.
“It’s a great start to the year,” Edwards said. “We started slowly, but I thought we managed to wrestle back momentum and got some control in the game, and we were deserving of our equaliser.
“We talked a lot at half-time and knew it was going to be down to who really wanted it because everyone’s knackered, and it’s been a tough week.
“But full credit to the lads, they’ve found a way and I thought they were well-worked goals, so I was pleased with that.
“Any time you can get three wins on the trot is great and three in a week, nine points, you notice a huge difference.
“It’s nice to be in the mix, but we want to be there in 20 games’ time and there’s probably about 20 other teams that are thinking the same as well.
“We’ve got to keep this momentum going but there’s a long way to go in a really challenging league.
“I’m delighted with our progress. When I came in, it wasn’t broken so it wasn’t a case of trying to change loads of things.
“We’ve tried to keep that good work going and I’m really pleased with how it’s going so far.”
After recording back-to-back wins at the end of 2022, Huddersfield’s revival comes to a bitter end.
With victory, Mark Fotheringham’s side could have risen out of the drop zone for the first time since August, but defeat sees them sink to 23rd.
“It was nowhere near the standards we expect,” The Terriers boss said.
“To go 1-0 up against Luton is a great position to be in, in a very important game where we could finish an important week on a high with nine points.
“But we ended up letting them off the hook, massively. The goals were absolutely unacceptable, and we could have handled the moments a hell of a lot better in critical periods of the game.
“We’ll have to look at each other in the mirror and be very honest; it’s not what we’re about as a team.
“It’s been a really big week with a lot of positives, but we’ve just put it on a big downer for the whole club.
“It’s not good enough. If we’re serious about getting out of it (the relegation zone), we need to be better in the bigger moments.
“We need to make this place a fortress and demand more from each other.
“We need to be more serious about getting out of it, be more ruthless and be honest with each other when we have bad days like that.
“The games are coming thick and fast, but we’ve deflated our fans with that today.”
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