Edwards has complete faith in Luton stopper who will replace Kaminski at Deepdale

Luton boss Rob Edwards has full faith in James Shea ahead of his first start in over a year for the Hatters when replacing Thomas Kaminski between the posts for this afternoon’s Championship trip to Preston North End.

The 33-year-old was needed for an hour at Portsmouth last weekend after Belgian international Kaminski had been sent off for his second booking in the space of a few minutes, Shea giving an assured display between the posts as he helped Luton keep their first league clean sheet since January with a goalless draw. With Tim Krul, who was number two in the Premier League last term, still not fully fit yet, then Shea will be named in the starting line-up for the first time since a 0-0 draw with Hull in May 2023, as he looks to stretch his impressive run of not conceding a goal in a senior game, which stands at almost two and half years.

On the change of keeper, Edwards said: “Sheasy did great. He’s really experienced and we’ll trust him. He’s been training brilliantly this week, Sheasy’s ready. Tim’s been training, he’s not ready yet, he’s only had two training sessions, today and yesterday, so we’ll see how he progresses in the next week or two. It’s not like we’re pushing him too much at the moment, we’ve got to make sure that we get that one right, but he’s training well.”

Speaking to the press last week about his chances of earning his 110th outing in a Hatters shirt, Shea himself had said: “We’ll see what happens. I played today, but I’m not going to tell the gaffer how to pick the team, hopefully I can play next but we’ll wait and see. It’s always a tough game going up to Preston, we’ve always had tough games every year, every time we’ve gone there, so next week will be no different. We’ll go there with a gameplan, get a team ready for it, and hopefully we can go up there and get another positive result.”

Town could also hand a full debut to recent signing Mark McGuinness at Deepdale, the 23-year-old Cardiff City defender joining for an undisclosed fee in the week. On the addition of the centre half, Edwards continued: “We’re delighted to get Mark in. It was a long time in the making, and he’s someone who brings great experience but he’s at a brilliant age now. He wants to kick on in his career and hopefully we can give him that platform at this club now. So he’s a leader, a really good defender, but also someone who can play. I see him as someone who’s going to have a really bright future, hopefully all of that is going to be with us.”

Fellow new addition Liam Walsh should be involved too as well as fit-again defensive duo Reece Burke and Mads Andersen, as Edwards insisted having a greater number of options will provide a real boost, adding: “We want to try and win a game a football. After the performance last week, players coming back, new additions coming in, I think people are starting to feel a little bit more positive which is good, but results help that.”