Lockyer felt Town let down Hatters boss after revealing Luton got a half-time 'telling-off' at Grimsby

Tom Lockyer looks to win the ball at Grimsby on Tuesday night

Defender knew opening 45 minutes wasn’t good enough

Defender Tom Lockyer felt he and the rest of the players had let manager Rob Edwards down after revealing the Hatters squad were on the receiving end of a ‘telling-off’ from the boss during the half time interval at Grimsby Town on Tuesday night.

A desperately poor opening 45 minutes from the visitors saw Luton breached three times from three shots on target, with Harry Clifton, Danilo Orsi and Danny Amos all scoring, as the Mariners, who ply their trade in League Two, ran out 3-0 winners in the FA Cup fourth round replay.

Edwards made six changes for the tie, which would ultimately backfire on him, and Lockyer admitted the boss let the players know just how poor they had been at Blundell Park, as he said: “We had a bit of a telling off at half time.

“(It’s happened before) Wigan in the FA Cup, the first game at the Kenny I've seen him like that.

“I wasn't involved, but I've seen it and rightly so, I think the boys deserved it then and we definitely deserved it.

“It’s not nice, you almost feel like you've let him down and let the fans down that have travelled.

“It’s a long way on a Tuesday night, it is disappointing and we did deserve it.

"But if we look forward and try and get another run going now, keep the league form going and hopefully we can move on.”

After the strong words from Edwards, who brought on Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu and Alfie Doughty for Elliot Thorpe and Louie Watson, Town did improve in the second period, dominating possession and territory, but couldn’t find a way past in-form Mariners keeper Max Crocombe.

He saved brilliantly from Cauley Woodrow and Luke Berry, while Mpanzu and Gabe Osho sent efforts wide too, as Lockyer added: “The second half was more like us, but we’re huffing and puffing without really causing too many problems.

“If we could have got that goal then maybe things could have been different, but the damage was done in the first half and it was always going to be an uphill battle from there.”