On-loan Arsenal midfielder felt Luton fans didn't 'deserve' to witness Brentford drubbing

​​Luton midfielder Sambi Lokonga felt the Town supporters didn’t 'deserve’ to witness their team hammered 5-1 on home soil by Brentford at the weekend.

The on-loan Arsenal player was back in the side for the first time since going off at half time in the 4-1 defeat to Liverpool, as he was forced to miss the last nine games with a hamstring injury. News of his inclusion alongside Gabe Osho and Teden Mengi was met with real enthusiasm ahead of kick-off by those supporters making their way to Kenilworth Road, who had been desperate to see the impressive Belgian international back in action.

It started well too, Lokonga back into his deep-lying role which allowed team-mate Ross Barkley to move that bit further forward, as he looked to get on the ball and drive forward when the chances arose. After the Bees took the lead through Yoanne Wissa’s brilliant finish, one such advance led to a great chance for Tahith Chong that he blazed over, before Brentford added the crucial second just before the break.

After half time, the Gunner was powerless to prevent Town’s opponents adding two more, as he was then withdrawn alongside Chong with 20 minutes to go, before the visitors scored again, Luke Berry grabbing the smallest of consolations in stoppage time. Writing on Instagram afterwards, Lokonga said: “Your support don’t deserve this kind of result. We will fight until the end to give you what you deserve!"

His thoughts were echoed by skipper Carlton Morris, who said: “I just want to touch on the fans as well, how we’re getting clapped off there I’ll never know to be honest. They’ve been incredible all season for us and that’s going to be crucial for us because we’re still in with a shout here, we’ve got every chance. I back myself, I back my team-mates in there, that we can do this, that we can get enough points to stay up in the coming games, so we’re going to need them more than ever.”

Even though Town have been famed for their ability to hit back in the second halves of matches this term, Edwards himself knew the contest was over when he made the decision to replace the 24-year-old, who has made 15 appearances in total since his move from the Emirates back in August, adding: “Bringing Sambi off after 70 minutes, we’re thinking, right the game is done, let’s look after him.

"It was difficult then, because we lost Burkey (Reece Burke) we’re running out of defenders again, so do we need to block this up now and try to shut up shop, or show a will and desire, especially in front of our own supporters that we want to try and get the next goal or the last goal? I’m glad we did that, but I said to the players at half time, I feel like the next goal could be the winner here. I really felt like we showed enough in the first half in our attacking play that we could still threaten them, they obviously got it from a set-play and then it was difficult from that moment.”

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