Rob Edwards insists Luton will keep fighting after losing to Wolves

Posted Sunday, April 28, 2024 by PA

Boss Rob Edwards stressed Luton were still in the fight after their Premier League survival bid took another hit with a 2-1 loss at his old club Wolves.

The hosts took the lead through Hwang Hee-chan’s deflected finish just before the interval and Toti then doubled the advantage with a header five minutes into the second half.

Carlton Morris – whose header was saved by Jose Sa seconds before Hwang’s opener – pulled a goal back with 10 minutes of normal time to go but Luton could not save themselves from defeat.

Victorious only once in their last 14 league outings and beaten in five of their last six, they remain a point adrift of 17th-placed Nottingham Forest, who host Manchester City on Sunday and are also appealing against a four-point deduction, with three games remaining.

Luton had been thrashed 5-1 at home by Brentford seven days earlier and former Wolves player and interim boss Edwards said in his post-match press conference at Molineux: “Last week we had a difficult day. We talked about performance throughout the week, about fight, character, desire, how we want to try to be with the ball and cause Wolves problems.

“Incredibly frustrated how we conceded the two goals, really disappointed to lose the game of course, but what I saw was some of the things I’ve been asking for throughout the week. I saw elements of a good performance against a good Wolves team.

“We didn’t go away, we kept going, we kept pushing. In terms of an away performance and especially how we were last week, there’s a lot of good stuff there to take into the final three games.

“We don’t know what we’re going to need but the big message from me is we’re in this fight. We’ve seen a team that are committed there.”

Asked if he thought the level of performance was good enough to keep Luton up, Edwards – whose side face Everton and Fulham at home either side of a trip to West Ham in their remaining games – said: “It’s not won us a game today, so no. But what I saw is a team that is committed and tried to do the right things.

“We clearly made some mistakes – the free header in the box (Toti’s goal) is the biggest one and we’ve said the same kind of things a lot this season where we’ve been close but come away with nothing ultimately.

“But I’ve seen enough over the course of this season and especially with some of the players, Eli (Adebayo, who made a return from injury off the bench), coming back as well, that we can cause teams problems, especially at home.

“I believe, if that’s the question you’re asking me, that we can and the players do as well because if they didn’t they would have shown that in the performance at 2-0 down. There’s enough there, we’ve got enough there.”

The result ended a six-game winless run in the league for Wolves, who are up to 10th.

Boss Gary O’Neil said: “Pleased with the win and the performance really, apart from the fact we didn’t kill it off – 2-1 probably doesn’t do the game justice.

“We were very comfortable at 2-0 and had big chances to make it three and four and didn’t take them.

“So, small criticism about could we be more ruthless but I thought there was some excellent stuff in there.

“Very good performance from the players, to bounce back from Wednesday (when they lost 1-0 at home to Bournemouth).”