"VAR" - Luton Town boss Rob Edwards questions controversial moment in Sunderland AFC loss | OneFootball

The Hatters took another tough defeat on Wednesday evening against the Black Cats.

Luton Town manager Rob Edwards believes that Carlton Morris' goal against Sunderland, on Wednesday night, was wrongly ruled out by the assistant referee.

Kenilworth Road wasn't a place of good memories for the visitors before their midweek trip down south. Sunderland's last match at the now world-renowned ground saw them crash out of the 2023 play-off semi-finals after losing the 2-1 lead that they held going into the game.

Now, after a dramatic win against Luton, those nightmare memories will have faded just a little bit.

Town looked to be back to near their old self in large parts of this game. Both sides had opportunities throughout the game, but the Hatters edged the game in terms of big chances, xG etc.

Still, they were unable to take any points from the game. Goals from Chris Rigg and Romaine Mundle were enough to get Sunderland over the line, although the hosts felt that they, too, should have had a brace on the board.

In the first half, Luton, who always look so threatening from corners, whipped in a ball from the corner flag that initially found the head of Daiki Hashioka. He nodded it on into the path of Morris, who first-time finished passed Anthony Patterson to give Luton the lead.

However, the celebrations were short-lived as the assistant referee's flag went up, judging that there was an offside in the play. It wasn't Morris who was judged to be in an illegal position, it was Jordan Clark.

The midfielder started the corner routine on the Sunderland goalkeeper, before running back to play when the Japanese defender got the flick on. He half attempted to get the second contact, but missed it and it fell to Morris. Even though he never touched the ball, Clark was deemed to have interfered with play from an offside position.

Rob Edwards unhappy with Luton offside decision

Edwards believes that his number nine's goal was wrongly chalked off. "If we had VAR then maybe it would have been ruled back in our favour," stated the Town manager, via Luton Today.

"I don’t think Clicker (Clark) is doing too much at all, but we didn’t get it and the first goal is really important at any level.

"I just think he starts in an offside position on the goalkeeper, but then he’s coming away from it and I don’t think he gets in the way of anybody, or affects anything. That’s my opinion.

"Obviously, like always, they’ll think differently and that’s fine, I suppose that’s football. But I don’t think he affects the play, the direction of the ball, any individual Sunderland player at all."

The result leaves Luton in 19th place in the Championship table on 11 points from as many games.

Luton should take the positives from Sunderland defeat

The nature of the loss, and the little scuffle between the two sets of players at the end of the game - a game which Sunderland goalscorer Mundle described as "heated" - will leave a bitter taste in the mouths of Hatters fans, and rightly so. That's a game they could have easily won, but things just didn't go their way.

What they can take from the match is an obvious improvement. It's by no luck that their opposition on Wednesday night are now three points clear at the top of the league. Under Regis Le Bris, they are a very strong outfit, and one that Luton really put to the test.

The Black Cats' away form hasn't been brilliant, but not many teams will put them under quite as much pressure as they faced from Luton in midweek. That should be what Town fans try to remember from the match, and not the things that went against them.