New Town attacker Jacob Brown was happy to have made a positive impact on what was not just his Luton debut, but also a maiden Premier League outing at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
The forward had only signed from Stoke City on Thursday afternoon, but was included on the bench at the Amex Stadium for the Hatters’ curtain-raiser.
He was brought on midway through the second half and almost went on to score with one of his first touches, eventually going wide of the goal and seeing his cross-shot deflected behind for a corner.
The Seagulls quickly made it 2-0 through a penalty awarded against skipper Tom Lockyer, before Brown played his part in Town’s first ever Premier League goal, his cross was handled by Lewis Dunk for a spotkick that Carlton Morris tucked away.
Simon Adingra ended any hopes of a fightback when pouncing on some poor defending by the Hatters, as although Brown came close to making it 3-2, his volley tipped over by Jason Steele, Evan Ferguson rounded off the scoring in stoppage time.
On his own efforts, Brown said: “When I came off the bench, my instructions were clear, just to bring some energy.
“I was trying to run in behind, press when it’s right to press and I think I’ve got to learn from that.
“Maybe I could have taken that chance when I’ve got a cross and I could have shot, but I’m looking to take positives from it.
“I felt like I just had to come on and try to make a positive impact.
“I’m very much, I like to be hard on myself, so I’m not happy that I’ve had a shot saved.
“I’d rather score, but I’ve just got to work on that and can hopefully start getting some goals soon.”
Manager Rob Edwards was also impressed by what he had seen from his new arrival, saying: “He did (look good), that’s why we brought him to the club.
“We really like him, he is lively and I think he’s going to impress people at this level.”
Although Town did end up on the wrong end of the final scoreline, Brown thought the visitors had their moments in the game, and was impressed by the manner in which Luton contained their high-flying opponents, particularly in the opening 45 minutes.
He said: “I don’t think they did (create too many opportunities), I think we did really well.
“We imposed ourselves on the game, we had chances ourselves, against a top side like that you’re going to take a lot of positives from that.
“It’s never a good time to concede, but when that happened, we did well to hold on.
“We didn’t lose composure, kept doing what we set out to do and then we got ourselves back in the game with the penalty.
“We’re all going to look at what we’ve done (for the third goal), and it’s easy to say you shouldn’t have done that, but in the moment everyone makes mistakes.
“It’s a team game so we’re all there in it together.”
Having only joined a few days before and having minimal training at his new place of employment, it was something of a whirlwind for Brown, but the Scotland international already feels at home in his new surroundings.
Already being close to a number of the squad in the building certainly helped too, as he said: “I think I’ll settle quite well as I know a lot of players that are here.
“Alfie (Doughty) was at Stoke, he’s a great guy, I played at Barnsley with Cauley (Woodrow), Mads (Andersen) and I know Allan Campbell from Scotland.
“Luke Berry, Jordan Clark, we have the same agents, they also played for Barnsley, so I know quite a lot of the lads.
“I just feel welcome already, knowing players is much better and it’s the first time I’ve come to a club and really known a lot of players, so I think that will definitely help me playing-wise.
“I’ve only had two days training with the boys, but they’ve all been class since I’ve come in.”
A number of supporters were enthused about their summer signing following his debut at the weekend too, as they have made their feelings of excitement clear to Brown, who added: “I’ve had so many positive messages from the fans and seeing the support just shows how good the fans are.
“They were class, after the game we’ve just lost, all of them stayed, all of them were bouncing about, it just shows that we’re going to have top support throughout the season and we’re all grateful for that.
“I’m looking forward to a good few weeks of training now to start improving.”
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