The Hatters were 2-0 behind after just seven minutes, conceding the first after 37 seconds, and were rocked in the warm-up by an injury to top goalscorer Elijah Adebayo.

But his team rallied and after Carlton Morris’ seventh goal of the season, the Town were unlucky not to earn a point.

“We’re really disappointed to lose the game – we can’t start the way we did against Manchester United,” said Edwards.

“Losing Eli, a goal down after 40 seconds… it’s not a great way to start to start and it took the players some time to recover.

“However, they responded really well. They were committed to the gameplan and they showed what a really good team we are. It’s just a shame we started that way.

“But there’s a lot to be proud of, nobody can say we didn’t want to go and win that game, that we didn’t take risks.

“We’ll pick the lads up, and we’ll look to respond well at Anfield on Wednesday.”