First Belgium cap was thoroughly deserved for Luton's 'outstanding' keeper Kaminski

A first ever Belgium senior cap for Luton’s ‘outstanding’ goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski was a fully deserved achievement according to Luton chief Rob Edwards.

The 31-year-old had to bide his time patiently before finally get the honour of stepping on to the field as a fully fledged international, as having represented his country at U15, U16, U17, U19 and U21 levels, he had been called up to 21 first team squads since May 2013, but never saw any first team action. The decade-long wait was finally ended at the weekend, as the 0-0 draw with the Republic of Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin saw Kaminski introduced with seven minutes left, replacing Nottingham Forest stopper Matz Sels for the closing stages.

Although he was back to being an unused substitute during the 2-2 draw with England at Wembley on Tuesday night, there can be no taking the moment away from the former Anderlecht and Gent stopper, as Edwards said: “It was brilliant, I text him the other day when it happened and seeing him (back at training) was very special. You could see he was really proud of that moment.

"He deserved it, he’s been outstanding for us this year. It’s been a really difficult season and he is getting worked, he is getting tested, but he’s also kept us in games and made some huge saves, some big moments in games as well. So he really deserved that, I’m very, very pleased for him.”

Kaminski has been key to the Hatters keeping their heads above water so far this term, making a number of spectacular saves, nominated twice for the Castrol Premier League Save of the Month award, winning it in November for his terrific double stop against Crystal Palace. He tops the chart in the Premier League for saves made too, with 112 from his 29 outings, which was something that Edwards reiterated was one of the major reasons behind bringing him in from Blackburn Rovers during the summer.

Speaking about the keeper, who was voted the Hatters’ second best ever in the top flight by supporters this week, he added: “We said when we signed him, we’ve said it all throughout the season, we knew we needed a goalkeeper who could make big saves and deal with one v one situations, reaction saves, and he’s done that a lot this year. We’re going to need him to carry on doing that for the next nine games as well, as for us to win games of football at this level, everyone’s got to play well and that includes our goalkeeper.”