Edwards wants his Luton players to make sure they are being cheered off after grudge clash with Hornets

Luton boss Rob Edwards has urged his side to do everything they can to ensure they are being cheered off by their supporters following tomorrow afternoon’s local derby against Watford.

The two sides meet at Kenilworth Road for the first time with fans present since 2006, the home faithful desperately hoping to witness a first victory since goals from Paul Telfer and Kerry Dixon ensured a 2-1 success back in August 1993, almost 30 years ago.

Since then, Town have drawn three and lost two of their matches against their greatest rivals in Bedfordshire when a crowd has been in attendance, the 1-0 triumph in April 2021 courtesy of James Collins’ penalty coming when the stadium was empty due to Covid restrictions.

Despite being in charge of the Hornets at the start of the season, Edwards has fostered a terrific relationship with the Hatters fans since replacing Nathan Jones in November, winning 10 of his 17 Championship matches.

Making that 11 would guarantee himself and his players a wonderful ovation from the majority of what is a sell-out home crowd at the full time whistle, with the anticipated scenes a world away from earlier in the campaign, when Town trudged meekly off the Vicarage Road playing surface having been handed a 4-0 drubbing.

Speaking ahead of the game, Edwards said: “The bottom line is we need to make sure they’re giving us that same reception when we’re going in, back up the tunnel, so that’s been our line this week.

"We know that they’re going to be behind us from the start, in the warm-up and as the lads come out, as we all come out, they’re as loud as possible, brilliant, and throughout the game.

"Obviously that’s down to us to help with the atmosphere, our job is to make sure they’re cheering us and clapping us when we go in.”

Since he has been in charge, the boss and his squad have often received a terrific reception after turning round a disappointing record at Kenilworth Road with five wins from eight, their only defeats coming against a resurgent West Bromwich Albion and runaway leaders Burnley.

Edwards knows the home faithful will have no issue in getting up for a match against the team in yellow, as he continued: “They always do, they always do, our supporters have been incredible for us.

"They’ve been really with us, two-nil down against Millwall, they helped us fight back, they helped us get over the line in games where we’ve been 1-0 up and it's been tight and no doubt we’re going to need them again.

"It's not like I’m going to have to encourage that on the weekend at all.

"We’re in a fantastic position in the league, it's our biggest game, it’s the one that all our supporters look for first and it’s the first time we’re going to be playing in front of our supporters in this game in 17 years.

"It’s an amazing opportunity to have a great day but it’s down to us to work extremely hard.

"We respect them because they’ve got very good players, Chris Wilder’s a really good coach, very experienced manager, so we know how difficult it’s going to be, but we hope it's going to be a really good day for us.

“It is and I’ll say it again, it’s one that, it will be new for a few of us.

"Some of the lads that have played them a couple of years ago, a win here, but in front of no fans, so it will be new for a lot of the lads.

"We want to make sure it’s an occasion we can really enjoy, but again that’s down to us and how we perform.”

Having been in charge for over four months now, then on whether he has noticed an extra buzz among the players in training this week as the task in front of them gets ever closer, Edwards said: “There always is, there’s been a buzz since we came in because of how well the lads have done.

"They’ve got a great environment here, where everyone loves coming to work and working hard but having a laugh, enjoying the moments when you should have a laugh, and working hard when you need to as well.

"That’s always been the same.

"At the same time, it’s recognising that there’s a big game coming too, so the training has been on point.”

Edwards expects the magnitude of the game to have its own way of lifting the players without him needing to do too much ahead of kick-off either, adding: “We always have a final message, that’ll be no different, but I’m expecting that to be a little bit easier this time.

"Our supporters have obviously been incredible since we’ve come in, home and away, but I’m expecting this one to be a bit livelier than any other game that we’ve had so far.

"I’m expecting that when the lads warm-up, for it to be loud and pretty raucous then, so I think the lads will feel that it’s a little bit different when they’re out there, even in the warm-up.

"Our supporters can help with some of the rally call before the game anyway.”