Rob Edwards
Hatters boss Rob Edwards anticipates his Luton side that makes their Premier League debut against Brighton & Hove Albion in under a month’s time will look ‘very different’ to the one that earned a 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town at Colchester United on Tuesday night. With a number of first team players missing, including summer signings Marvelous Nakamba and Issa Kabore, plus Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Amari’i Bell, Reece Burke and Gabe Osho all sitting the match out, the Town chief included a number of young pros on the bench for their match against the Championship new boys. They still managed to earn a 1-1 draw courtesy of striker Carlton Morris’s second half penalty, as summing up the performance on the club’s official website,
Rob Edwards said: “The no injuries bit is important, it was a really difficult game and that is why we wanted to play them, because they are a good team and will cause a lot of problems this year in the Championship. That’s why we wanted that style of game because that’s what we’re going to come up against probably times 10 going forward. We are starting to push one or two, a few people got 90 minutes and we started to push the minutes up. Some of the new players are getting a feel of what we are about more, which is good, so there were positives there. There’s lots to work on, I have to stress that straight away, lots to do. I’ve just said to the lads, it’s not to sound negative, but that is a very different look team to what I anticipate us being in a couple of weeks time. The group will remain very similar, but there’s going to be some changes. We’ve got some work to do, I’ve got some work to do on the grass. We have to be a bit better with our decision making. I thought in the first half, in terms of how we went about it out of possession we could have been better, which is down to me. So bits to work on, but there were plenty of positives.”
Edwards was pleased to see his summer additions in action in front of fans for the first time, as Mads Andersen, Tahith Chong and Chiedozie Ogbene all earned some valuable game time. It was Ogbene who won the penalty for Morris to find the net after a surge into the box was ended by a foul,
Rob Edwards added: “It was a little bit different for Mads, I wanted to have a look at him on the outside of that back three without having Gabe and Burkey, or Amari’i as well. It was important for him to experience that and I thought he also did well when he went back into the middle when Locks came off. Chongy, the supporters can see very, very busy, very intelligent, wants to try and get on the ball, wants to try and make things happen. He’s very good in transition, he’s got athleticism, we saw that from the counter attack when he ran the length of the pitch and created a good chance. I thought Chieo when he moved upfront was beginning to look a real threat, starting to get in behind, gave us a little bit of a different dimension, he won us the penalty, so an important moment. It’s really good for them to get out there in front of fans with our lads, so that was a big plus for us, but lots more learning to do.”
With Sheffield Wednesday now coming up in another friendly on Saturday,
Rob Edwards added: “There’s a number of players back at the Brache who have been working hard, not quite ready for minutes, but hopefully we’ll see Amari’i, hopefully we’ll see Issa, hopefully we can see Marv, which is great. One or two have got some knocks, Gabe, Burkey and Pelly, so we’ll see how they are going into the weekend.”
