Secretive Edwards admits it was a gamble bringing Luton's fit-again trio back against Bees

Hatters boss Rob Edwards admitted it had been something of a gamble to bring back Sambi Lokonga, Gabe Osho and Teden Mengi to face Brentford on Saturday having originally kept his cards close to his chest about their availability ahead of the contest.

Asked on Friday if any of the trio had a chance of being fit to take on the Bees, Lokonga out since going off at half time in the 4-1 loss to Liverpool, Osho not featuring since substituted during the 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace, Mengi missing the 5-1 loss at Manchester City last weekend, Edwards had stated neither of the first two would make it, declaring the former Manchester United defender as a ‘maybe’.

However, those walking up to Kenilworth Road were given a huge boost prior to kick-off when reading the team news and seeing all three were in fact back to face the Bees, giving Town the strongest-looking starting line-up they had been able to send out for a number of weeks. Unfortunately, it didn’t have the desired effect though, Thomas Frank's side romping to an dispiriting 5-1 victory, but on finally getting some first teamers back, Lokonga gaining 70 minutes, while the other two had the full 90, Edwards said: “It was probably a gamble.

"There’s not been loads and loads of training going on, but I felt it was the right thing to do. They’ve had a full week of good work, so again I’ll look at that and it’s always my responsibility. I pick the team in the end and clearly we’ve lost the game so I’ve got to look at myself. Teden and Gabe got through it, Sambi would have got through it had we not brought him off and looked after him because of the state of the game, so they’ll certainly be better for having that game and hopefully they'll be better next week.

“I had to keep my cards close to my chest. We took an educated risk if you like to put some of those players back in, we felt it was the right thing to do, I felt it was the right thing to do. I’m not blaming the players who came back in at all, they gave me everything, Teden and Gabe had to push through a lot.”

Edwards was always aware that it would take the returning players a bit of time to get back up to speed with the top flight having had a spell on the sidelines, as he continued: “It’s difficult, it is difficult. Premier League football is hard and we've got to be right at our best and we weren't and got punished for it. It's difficult for the lads when we’ve probably not got our best game going and then they're up against it more and things happen a little quickly.

"Let's be right, Brentford have gone some brilliant players, especially at the top end of the pitch. I know they missed Ivan Toney today but the speed that they do things, (Bryan) Mbeumo, (Yoanne) Wissa and others, they're very, very good and we got caught in a few moments. I’m not ever going to single out any of the boys and say because we made some changes.

"It wasn't anyone's fault directly, as a team we didn’t have that intensity and that urgency. It was lacking and again I've got to look at that, my fault and I don't know why that is. It's a strange one as we've had that all season, especially here at Kenilworth Road.”

Luton were then also hit in the first half by two further withdrawals during the contest, Issa Kabore going off injured on 37 minutes, Fred Onyedinma having to come on, and then Reece Burke, who had been caught out badly for the second goal, also failed to reappear after the break, replaced by Luke Berry. Edwards continued: “I need to get a bit more of the detail of how Issa is, but it seems like we get one back and then it’s a difficult one having to make a change early in the game.

"Burkey was ill, we pushed Burkey quite hard with it this week after he’d been ill. He trained yesterday and he wasn't right at half time, and that's why he came off. It wasn't a tactical thing, I’m not blaming Burkey, he was ill. The lads that came back into the team gave us absolutely everything, but we need more from everybody. Yes they helped, we need the numbers back, of course we do, so it was good to have those lads back.”

After such a drubbing, the fact that he was able to have a larger pool to choose from, with Chiedozie Ogbene and Elijah Adebayo possibly returning at Wolves this weekend, it allowed Edwards to find some bright spots from the chastening experience, adding: “We’ve got some back and maybe we’ll get one or two back next week as well, so there’s positives. It’s hard to find positives of course, but having some bodies back certainly helps us.”