Edwards knows Toffees draw wasn't what Luton wanted to boost survival bid

Luton chief Rob Edwards couldn’t hide his disappointment that the Hatters were unable to secure the victory they so desperately needed to boost their hopes of staying in the Premier League this evening, held to a 1-1 draw by Everton at Kenilworth Road.

Town went into the contest knowing victory would lift them out of the bottom three and above fourth bottom Nottingham Forest ahead of their trip to Sheffield United tomorrow afternoon. Roared on by a partisan crowd, the hosts fell behind midway through the first half when Dominic Calvert-Lewin converted a penalty that was given by referee Tim Robinson after being sent to the screen by VAR to watch Teden Mengi’s foul on Jarrad Branthwaite once more.

The Hatters were quickly level though, Elijah Adebayo scoring his 10th of the season on his first start since early February, as he rolled Ashley Young in the area and slammed beyond Jordan Pickford. Edwards’ side then dominated large swathes of territory in the second period, but couldn’t force England’s number one into real meaningful saves, Mengi and Ross Barkley both heading good chances over the bar.

Discussing the result, Edwards said: “It wasn’t (what we needed), we wanted a win, we threw everything at it, we tried. I always say it, you can’t guarantee the wins or the draws, can’t guarantee the result, but you can guarantee how hard you work, the performance, trying to do the right things. We did all of that, we stood up to Everton’s physicality really well, their running power. I thought we did really well and then we were the team pushing right towards the end.

“We wanted to work Pickford, we got into good areas, didn’t put a lot of crosses in, but we got into a lot of good areas on a lot of occasions. We wanted to try to use the space on the outside a little bit more, that’s my initial impressions, I haven’t watched it back obviously. We still created good chances, had good pressure and good momentum that left us open to a couple of moments that they had, but in the end, a draw wasn’t what we wanted.”

As the game went into six minutes of stoppage time, Luton upped their pressure even more, substitute Luke Berry seeing an inventive header clawed away by Pickford, as Town threw keeper Thomas Kaminski up for a number of late corners. Berry’s acrobatic volley cannoned off a defender and flew behind, as fellow replacement Andros Townsend thought he had won it with the very last kick, a low drive appearing destined for the net but for a last-gasp deflection.

Edwards continued: “We could be having a different conversation now if the ball had gone a couple of inches we’re talking about. They made a couple of big blocks. I was right behind Andros’s one, Bezza’s one happened in a flash, just seeing that back, I don’t know who made the block for them, they didn’t look like they knew much about it, but it was a great block, very important. Branthwaite got a bit of a shin or something on Andros’s strike which I thought that might be our moment, but it wasn’t to be.”

The result means Luton will now watch on tomorrow, hoping Forest slip up at Bramall Lane and second bottom Burnley fail to beat Newcastle United on home soil as well, but on this evening’s efforts, Edwards added: “I’m proud of the players, the club, the supporters, who were with us to the very end as well. We went one-nil down in difficult circumstances on a huge occasion, but we came back, we showed real quality. We tried to do all the right things. We don’t know as we stand, as I’m talking to you right now, we’re still in the mix aren’t we, other things are out of our control now and that’s obvious, but we’ll keep going.”