Luton Town boss Rob Edwards believes that the Hatters are still in the play-off semi-final tie and needs the fans support at Kenilworth Road for the second leg on Tuesday night.
Town came away from the Stadium of Light a goal behind after they earned an early lead through Elijah Adebayo in-front of over 46,000 spectators.
“It’s half-time, we’re right in the tie”, Edwards explained. “It was a really challenging game as we knew it was going to be, pretty tight, fantastic atmosphere. I thought we had the better of the first half and they had the better of the second half, it was a tight game.
“I think it settled down a little bit before our goal to be honest, I thought we had lots of control in that first half. We were brave with the ball, tried to take it and still remain a threat. When we scored, Eli had a big chance then and we had one or two good moments, I was really happy at half-time. Second half, I felt we could’ve been a bit better with the ball in certain moments.
“We won the ball back and we gave it back too cheaply. When we had the chance to counter-attack, we just didn’t make it happen by making the wrong decision or technically we gave the ball away. In those moments, we’ve got to be better.”
Edwards believes that there are improvements to be made going into the second leg on Tuesday night.
“You expect them to be right at it. I think we forced them into a lot as well, so I think it was tight in that respect. They’ve got really good individuals, I thought our pressing and one-v-one defending was very good, the goals they have scored have been an amazing free-kick and a short corner, so we’ve got to be better in those moments, they’ve not cut us open. We had one or two opportunities to do better with our attacking, and that’s what we’re going to work on for Tuesday.
“Later on in the game, on a big pitch in this kind of game, if it becomes too transitional then it really suits them as well, it was on us to try and keep the ball as well. If we go too direct too soon and lose it, then the game becomes more suited to them because we’re open, and we’ve lost it, and we had to show quality. We had to work in our way at times as well, but of course we want to try and utilise the frontmen and I think it probably will be easier to do that on Tuesday night.
“We can do noise at Kenilworth Road and we’re going to need it, we need to bring that. Their fans were well up for it tonight and I know our fans will be up for it on Tuesday. It’s half-time, I’ve got to stress that, we’re right in the game, everyone knows that. It’s 2-1 with 90 minutes at least of football to go, so we need everyone behind us for the whole duration of the game and the lads will give everything.”