Edwards explains why he brought on Campbell for Watson just moments after Luton went 2-0 up at Wigan

Luton boss Rob Edwards explained why he made the decision to bring on Allan Campbell for Louie Watson just seconds after the Hatters had moved 2-0 in front at Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

The 21-year-old summer signing from Derby County was starting his second successive game for the Hatters, having played almost the entire 90 plus seven minutes of stoppage time when Town won 2-1 at the same venue in the FA Cup third round replay on Tuesday evening.

That night he had been alongside Campbell, the Scottish international withdrawn on 64 minutes, before keeping his place for Town’s second match in five days against the Latics, Campbell dropping to the bench, raising some eyebrows among the Luton supporters.

With a bobbly surface and a direct Wigan side, Watson had started brightly, before like the rest of the side, was under the cosh for parts of the first half as Wigan looked to find an equaliser to Harry Cornick’s strike.

He had to show the other side of the game, with plenty of tracking and harassing his opponents, getting stuck into the midfield battle, while it was the same after the break until Elijah Adebayo’s counter-attacking second.

Not long after the ball had hit the net, Campbell was on for the final 35 minutes or so, and on why he made the switch, Edwards said: “That was always going to be hard, a big shift on Tuesday night for him (Watson) and he was effective with the ball.

"Today, you could see after the first 25 minutes or so it was more difficult for us to get on the ball and get that control that he gives us.

"So I felt like making that change and bringing Al on who’s got such a great skill-set in those kinds of games to compete and land on second balls.

"I thought that was the right thing at that moment in time when we were 2-0 up, I thought Al did really well and Louie competed really well in the second half as well.”

One played who did thrive on the afternoon was fellow midfielder Jordan Clark, who had the ball on a string at times in the second half, nutmegging and skipping past his opponents for fun, leaving his opponents chasing shadows at times.

Edwards added: “I just wanted him to bend him in the top corner after he’s done a bit of that, that’s the next bit for him to work on, as he’s a talented boy.”