Hatters boss backs Luton duo Thorpe and Watson to learn from 'tough' FA Cup experience

Luton boss Rob Edwards believes last night’s rather chastening FA Cup experience for young duo Louie Watson and Elliot Thorpe against Grimsby will be a ‘tough’ but ‘valuable’ one in their development.

The two midfielders were brought into the starting line-up at Blundell Park, with Thorpe making his first Town start in just over 12 months, and a third senior start in his fledgling career.

Watson was in from the beginning for the fifth time since Edwards took over at Kenilworth Road, but with a rather shell-shocked Hatters trailing 3-0 at the break, Edwards made the call to withdraw the pair, with Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu and Alfie Doughty on.

Although the more experienced replacements couldn’t spark a comeback from the visitors, discussing his decision, the Town manager said: “I think it will be a really valuable experience.

“It will be a tough experience for them right now.

"Louie got booked and I just felt he was trying to compete really hard, he was just starting to go into challenges and I thought we've got to keep 11 people on the pitch here.

“He’s been terrific since we’ve come in, and we’ve got lots of competition in that area of the pitch, but tonight will be a learning curve.

“Thorpey was coming in from not playing much football recently, but I thought he showed really good moments, I really did.

"I just felt that at that moment, at half time, bringing on Alfie and getting a left on the left and a right on the right was the right thing to do.

"But the two of them are really good young players who we've got really high hopes for, and they’ll learn a lot from this.”

Edwards also had two members of the Hatters’ academy on the bench, with left back Joe Johnson, who had played in the FA Youth Cup defeat to Preston the previous evening and former Spurs youngster Axel Piesold included.

On the experience they would gain, Edwards added: “They will do, being around the group and seeing what it’s about on a match-day.

“They’ll learn from that and in the next couple years they'll want to be there on a more regular basis and be out there playing.

“We know we've got some good young players at the club who I believe have got an opportunity to get into this first team as well, so it's good to give them the experience over the last couple of days.”

One plus point for Edwards was a full 90 minutes for winger Fred Onyedinma who completed a full game for the first time since April 2022.

It was the same for Luke Berry, who last had the whole match when Town put five past Coventry in September 2021, as he added: “We didn’t get any injuries which was another positive tonight, so Fred getting the minutes in, and Bez as well.

“A few getting 90 minutes who haven’t had as much lately, so there's a couple of silver linings to the cloud.”