'Trouble' - Rob Edwards serves up ultimate Leeds United praise after Luton Town defeat with division verdict
Rob Edwards served up huge Leeds praise after seeing his Luton side brushed aside 3-0 at Elland Road.
Luton Town boss Rob Edwards served up major praise for Leeds United after Wednesday night’s 3-0 defeat at Elland Road, declaring the Whites as dominant as you could see in the division.
Luton were among the summer’s leading fancies for promotion after last season’s relegation from the Premier League but the Hatters arrived at Elland Road down the wrong end of the table and fell to a ninth defeat of the season at LS11.
Goals from Sam Byram, Joel Piroe and Dan James sealed a 3-0 success for Daniel Farke’s Whites who moved back to the top of the Championship on goal difference ahead of second-placed Sheffield United.
Edwards had been full of praise for Leeds before the contest and again applauded the Whites in Wednesday’s post-match press conference. Luton were denied what would have been a big goal with Leeds only 1-0 up as Pascal Struijk cleared a Victor Moses strike off the line and Reece Burke also squandered a good opportunity for the Hatters.
Edwards declared the timing of United’s second goal as frustrating - but admitted it was “ifs, buts and maybes” amid glowing praise for the Whites.
“We came up against a very good team,” said Edwards post-match.
“The frustrations we've been talking about, we've made some poor decisions. Goals are always avoidable. We stepped out and pressed when we'd worked on not doing, opened spaces and had them in behind us too many times. Very frustrating.
“Ultimately tonight it's probably the most difficult place to come to in the Championship and it looked like that at times. You go after them and they get six on that top line and they'll find people in those pockets, they get turned and go at you and there's trouble. We couldn't find that balance. Credit to them and some poor decisions from us, timing of when to press and when not to.
“We're not seeing it so much at home, we're seeing it away from home when it matters. We don't see it on the training pitch or having meetings but when it matters away from home.
“Clearly, it's a great clearance from Victor's chance and Burkey's chance was a big one. All ifs, buts and maybes.
“We knew they'd have more of the game, they're as dominant a side as they come in this league. When we got a chance we had to take it and we didn't. The timing of the second goal was extremely frustrating, couple of basic errors that cost us.”