Hatters make four changes for FA Cup clash with Wigan as Woodrow and Cornick both start

Luton boss Rob Edwards has stuck to his word and named a strong side to face Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup third round this evening.

The Town chief made four changes from the 2-1 win at Huddersfield on New Year's Day, as the match-winner Reece Burke started his first game since late October.

He was joined by the free from suspension Gabe Osho, as Harry Cornick and Cauley Woodrow both came in too, Elijah Adebayo, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu and Alfie Doughty dropping to the bench, Tom Lockyer missing out completely.

The was a smattering of youth on the bench too, Casey Pettit joined by the recently recalled Elliot Thorpe, with Development squad attacker Jayden Luker included.

After three games in seven days, Town were able to get a slight breather going into the fixture which pleased the manager, as he said: “It was nice to get a bit of a break.

"The lads deserved it and needed it and to be honest whatever the results would have been they have worked extremely hard over the Christmas period.

"So they’ve had a little bit of the break to spend some time with families and that was what was needed.”

The festive period couldn’t have gone any better for the Hatters as they won all three of their matches, beating Norwich City, QPR and Huddersfield, as Edwards continued: “I’m really pleased with the lads and proud of how they performed.

"Also the staff, the wider staff as well, because a lot of hard work goes into making sure we keep the lads as fit and strong as possible.

"I did speak about that after the game, everyone gave a lot of their time up and for us it’s a time to be with the families, but in football you do sacrifice that team.

"It’s nice the lads were able to get maximum points which was incredible.

“There is a always a lot of hard work that goes into it from everybody behind the scenes.

"It was nice we’ve been rewarded with some wins but lets be honest as well, they were fairly tight and we’ve come out on the right end of them.

"A lot of the Championship games are fine margins and what we’ve done very well is come out the right side of those fine margins.

"We’ve done the basics very well, we’ve ran hard, we’ve blocked things, we’ve headed things, we’ve done the ugly stuff well and been good in both boxes."

On whether any performance gave him greater satisfaction, Edwards added: “No, a win is a win.

"It’s nice we’ve done it in different ways, being down to 10 men against Norwich and late on, tight game against QPR but then seen it our fairly comfortably and then come from behind against Huddersfield.

"Lots of different ways to win a game which gives us a lot of belief and confidence that we know we can do it.

"You have to do that, in football no two games are the same.

"They give you equal amount of pleasure when that final whistle goes and you’ve got three points, it’s a fantastic feeling.”

Hatters: Ethan Horvath, James Bree, Reece Burke, Gabe Osho, Dan Potts (C), Amari'i Bell, Allan Campbell, Louie Watson, Cauley Woodrow, Harry Cornick, Carlton Morris.

Subs: Harry Isted, Luke Berry, Casy Pettit, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Elliot Thorpe, Cameron Jerome, Alfie Doughty, Jayden Luker.

Latics: Ben Amos, Ryan Nyambe, Tom Naylor, Jack Whatmough, Jordan Cousins, Max Power (C), James McLean, Curtis Tilt, Callum Lang, Ashley Fletcher, Rarmani Edmonds-Green.

Subs: Jamie Jones, Gwion Edwards, Will Keane, Anthony Scully, Tendayi Darikwa, Josh Magennis, Thelo Aasgaard, Charlie Hughes, Baba Adeeko.

Referee: David Webb.