Edwards felt Luton fans saw the best of record signing Mark McGuinness during Hornets thumping

Town boss Rob Edwards felt that Hatters supporters got to see the very best of defender Mark McGuinness after his outstanding performance during the Hatters’ 3-0 victory over local rivals Watford on Saturday.

The 23-year-old has had a mixed start to life at Kenilworth Road after Luton shelled out what was a club record transfer fee to acquire his services from fellow Championship side Cardiff City back in August. A decent debut in the 1-0 reverse at Preston North End and an impressive outing during the 1-0 win at Millwall apart, the centre half had struggled to produce the kind of displays that saw him come through the ranks at Arsenal, and then earn his seven figure move to the Bluebirds back in 2021.

He was called up by the Republic of Ireland squad for the first time though earlier this month, before unfortunately having to withdraw from new head coach Heimir Hallgrímsson’s squad after rolling his ankle when away with his country. It meant he was touch and go to face the Hornets at the weekend, but face them he did, with Edwards revealing just how close he had been to missing out, saying: “I thought Mark was brilliant.

"I didn’t say after the game, but I thanked him personally out on the pitch for what he'd done in the last week to 10 days. He hadn’t trained, but the work that he put in to be fit for that game, it would have been easy for him to go, ‘you know what, I need a bit more time,’ but he worked round the clock, along with the medical staff as well, to be fit for that game.”

Having declared himself available, there was one nervy moment for the centre half when a heavy touch saw Vakoun Bayo nick the ball away from him, as the pair tangled some 30 yards from goal, referee Stephen Martin fortunately ruling there was nothing untoward about the challenge. From that moment on though, McGuinness went on to excel, as along with Tom Holmes, the pair gave a no-nonsense display that was just what was needed on the occasion.

Winning his headers, five of them in total, the highest number by any home player, plus four tackles too, Town’s joint best with Victor Moses, it was one late in the first half that could be a sliding doors moment for the defender as with Bayo away again, he timed his sliding intervention perfectly to take ball and man, earning roars of approval from the home supporters, whose backing for his efforts increased with every passing minute.

With Town then 2-0 up, McGuinness was at it again, throwing himself into a full blooded 50-50 block when a Watford player let fly from the edge of the box, and it was that second attempt that drew some lavish praise from Edwards, who continued: “That tackle he made later on in the second half on the edge of the box, that was his ankle that was sore, but I just think it was a great game for him and I think the supporters saw Mark McGuinness at his best. In that level of game, in a game that’s most important for everybody, I think it’s great for him. The connection with the fans and everything as well.”

As McGuinness continued to look every inch the defender Luton fans had hoped they signed, Edwards knows his target is now to reach those heights on a regular basis, but he believes simplifying things going into the contest will help the centre half going forward, as he added: “It’s always challenge when you come to any new club and a different way of doing things, different way of playing, new players, it can be a challenge.

"What we did in this game, we talked about it before, it was back to basics. It was clarity, it was right, this is what our non-negotiables are, this is us, these are our fundamentals, however you want to turn it, and then off you go as you’re all really good players, so let’s start with that. What we’ve done is given ourselves a really good base level and I think that helped Mark and all of the boys.”