Captain of Sheffield United's Premier League relegation rivals questions desire after heavy defeat

Carlton Morris was ‘extremely disappointed’ to see his Luton Town side crumble to lose 5-1 at home to Brentford on Saturday in a result that seriously dented their hopes of Premier League survival.

Luton missed the opportunity to open up a gap between themselves and rock-bottom Sheffield United on a dismal day at Kenilworth Road. Rob Edwards’ side held strong for 24 minutes but then conceded five without reply before Luke Berry’s added-time consolation.

All three newly-promoted teams are in the bottom three but relegation is yet to be confirmed for any. Despite suffering a crushing 4-1 defeat at home to Burnley on Saturday, United will continue to fight for an unlikely miracle but that same desire from Luton has been questioned by their captain.

“Honestly, I couldn’t tell you, it’s just like in life, these things happen sometimes,” Morris told Luton Today of his side’s weekend collapse. “I’m extremely disappointed, the lads are as well, no-one means to come out without that sort of desire but I think we were lacking that at times.

“That’s something we’ve got to face, we’ve got to get to the bottom of, because at this stage of the season, it’s tough to accept if I’m being honest, so we’ll speak about it. We’ll learn from this, like we have learned from every game, we’ll evolve and take it into our next game.”

Luton go to Wolves in their next game before a huge trip to Everton knowing they need to pick themselves up from the humiliating defeat if they are to stay up. United are in a similar position after Saturday’s defeat against second-bottom Burnley but face a tough trip to Manchester United.

Both remain in the fight to survive and with Luton just one point behind Nottingham Forest, their chances of beating the drop are higher and Morris has called for an instant response.

“It hasn’t happened in that fashion this season at all and I know what those lads are about,” he added. “I know the character we’ve got in that dressing room and I can guarantee you should expect a completely different performance.

“It’s a learning experience, it is an opportunity to show what we’re about, show our character, show that we can bounce back, how we’re going to react from this. Because I know, sitting around, looking in that dressing room, we’ve got however many fit lads now who are going to put on this shirt with pride and show a performance to be proud of.”

United’s chances of breaking out of the bottom three are looking slim, with 10 points to make up on Forest and just five games to do it. Wilder’s side face tricky trips to Manchester United and Newcastle this week, and defeat in both would see a return to the Championship confirmed.

But Wilder has insisted he and his players will continue to fight so long as another year in the top-flight remains a distinct possibility. After this week’s fixtures, the Blades host Forest and Tottenham, with a trip to Everton coming between.