Edwards praises Luton players for handling ‘difficult’ Kenilworth Road atmosphere.
Town hit back twice late on to defeat Derby County
Luton boss Rob Edwards praised his players for the manner in which they handled the ‘difficult atmosphere’ inside Kenilworth Road last night to earn a vital three points as two dramatic last-gasp goals saw off Derby County 2-1.
With Town struggling to really click into gear during a mundane first period, the Hatters were then breached just before the hour mark when Kayden Jackson got the better of makeshift wingback Tahith Chong to direct a header into the far corner. It led to boos immediately ringing out from the home supporters, who were starting to feat the worst having gone behind to a side that had been promoted from League One last term, and had won just once away all season.
Those jeers carried on during the remainder of the match, as the displeasure amongst those in the home stands was becoming more and more evident, as every misplaced pass or delayed throw-in was met with further exasperation from those supporting the home side. It felt like things were going to become toxic at the final whistle, but that all changed when substitute Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, let fly with a volley from outside the box that took a nick off defender Tom Holmes to fly into the net to restore parity, with the goal eventually going down to the centre half.
Then, midway through six minutes of stoppage time, another free kick was swung into the box by Cauley Woodrow and when a Derby player cleared it against his own team-mate, it dropped invitingly for Elijah Adebayo. The striker’s shot was parried by Rams stopper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom, but the Swedish international was powerless to prevent Carlton Morris’s follow-up from going in, the Town skipper’s attempt also taking a crucial deflection off the had of Curtis Nelson to find its way into the net.
That led to an explosion of noise from the home support, and some far, far happier post match scenes, the Hatters players, in particularly Mpanzu, roared down the tunnel. With Luton’s performance once more not at the standard of what is expected from them, although they have now won more games than the three teams above them in Norwich, Bristol City and Millwall, Edwards could understand the audible frustration, saying: “It’s going to be, we’re not where we want to be, it’s expected.
“We’re not exactly playing how we want to, it’s not exactly how we want it to look, it was horrible to watch, horrible to watch, I felt it as well, so I can understand why there would be a difficult atmosphere, but we found a way. They did (handle it well) and I was pleased with that as it could be difficult. This place, I’d love everyone to just keep believing all the time and hopefully they will with the last couple of results now, keep believing and keep backing the lads, but we need to win games and then people will be happy.
