4 observations made after Luton Town fall to narrow 1-0 defeat at Fulham

Luton Town suffered a fourth straight Premier League defeat on Saturday afternoon, with Fulham running out as 1-0 winners at Craven Cottage.

Second-half substitute Carlos Vinicius proved to be the matchwinner 20 minutes into the second half when the Brazilian forward was gifted an opportunity inside the six-yard box.

Here, we take a look at four observations that were made during Saturday's narrow defeat at Craven Cottage...

Vocal Luton Town support vent frustrations at the officiating

It is not the first time the Luton support have been vocal about the quality of officials in the Premier League, and unfortunately, it will unlikely be the last.

Of course, there are no guarantees that if the decisions that infuriated the Town fans had gone their way, then the eventual outcome would have changed, but ultimately, there was a good chance that they would have done.

On a personal level, it was not the individual decisions that led to the frustrations, it was the accumulation of wrong call after wrong call.

During a season where performances are going to need to be immaculate to secure points, consistently poor decisions from officials will not help the cause whatsoever.

Jacob Brown continues to excite

Rob Edwards opted for four changes on Saturday, which included a first Premier League start for summer signing Jacob Brown, who has impressed from the bench in the top flight thus far, whilst he also performed superbly against Gillingham in the Carabao Cup.

Hitting the post with a headed effort from Issa Kabore's first-half cross and threatening in the attacking third with clever and sharp movement, it was certainly another impressive display from the former Stoke City forward.

Able to operate out on the right in a 5-2-3 (5-4-1), or as part of a forward two, the versatility he has shown can only bode well for his chances of continued selection.

Controlling a game without the ball

Yes, Luton saw just 22% possession and had to endure lots of Fulham pressure, but it was fair to say that the Luton backline were rarely troubled.

The away team proved last season on several occasions that you can control games with little possession (Swansea away immediately springs to mind) and it becomes about how effective you are in the attacking transition.

Playing on the counter will play a huge role in how successful the Hatters are this season and there is already evidence that improvements have been made since the opening day at Brighton.

Credit where credit is due

As experienced last season, it can be incredibly difficult to break down a team who sit back and soak up pressure, with the Hatters particularly struggling at the start of the campaign in home defeats against Wigan Athletic and Preston North End.

Luton have grown a reputation over the past couple of seasons of being one of the most effective teams in the country out of possession and whilst not being at their best, the Cottagers found a way to grind out a victory and ensured that their points tally continued to tick along.