Hatters boss can't wait for Bramall Lane trip as he urges Luton to get 'going'

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Town chief looking to bounce back from Oxford draw

Hatters boss Rob Edwards can’t wait for this afternoon’s Championship clash against Sheffield United as he attempts to get his side’s season going once more at Bramall Lane.

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Luton thought they had started to turn their fortunes around when beating Millwall 1-0 and then Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 recently, only to run into an on-song Plymouth Argyle side just over a week ago, beaten 3-1 at Home Park. They then turned in a Jekyll and Hyde display against Oxford United on Tuesday night, as after a decent enough opening to the game when they moved 2-0 in front, saw their lead slip away as the visitors drew level and really should have gone on to win it.

It led to some criticism surrounding the Hatters and their manager, ahead of a sequence of games now which could really define just what their intentions are this term. Following this afternoon’s fixture against a Blades side who have made the kind of start that Luton had intended, unbeaten in all eight of their league fixtures, winning three from four on home soil, to sit in fourth place with 16 points, double the tally Town have accrued, they then take on Watford, Sunderland, Coventry City and West Bromwich Albion.

Hatters boss Rob Edwards - pic: David Rogers/Getty ImagesHatters boss Rob Edwards - pic: David Rogers/Getty Images
Hatters boss Rob Edwards - pic: David Rogers/Getty Images

However, an enthused Edwards wasn’t looking past this afternoon’s visit to Sheffield, as he said: “I don’t look at the table and I’m not really interested in it at the moment. Every game’s a challenge, every game is difficult, but I also know that we’re capable of beating anyone as well with what we’ve got. We’ll take each game, that’s all we can do. We’ll look at Sheffield United and then we’ve got a break, so concentrate on this game and try and get the right performance and hopefully on the back of that, the right result as well.

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“We know a lot about them and Chris (Wilder) is a brilliant manager, really experienced, loads of success, a big football club. They’ve got some good players, a consistent way of playing and a settled team at the moment as well which has obviously helped. It will be a big challenge for us, but it’s a great place to go and play, always a good atmosphere, so I’m really looking forward to getting going now. After a tough night the other night and reflecting and processing it and reviewing it, we’ve had a really good couple of days. So I’m really looking forward to getting out there now and going up against them.”

Luton and Edwards have good memories of their recent trips to the Steel City, as they won 1-0 back in March 2023 thanks to Carlton Morris’s goal and then hit back from 2-1 down to triumph 3-2 in the Premier League last term courtesy of two own goals on Boxing Day. Ahead of an international break next weekend, the boss continued: “You can lean on that.

"Ultimately we know it’s a different day and a different game completely, but it’s nice to lean on those moments. We don’t want to be having to go over more stuff and going in on a negative feeling, so the beauty of football is you have an opportunity to pick yourself up, have an opportunity to win a game, have an opportunity to feel really good and build confidence, so we have that.”

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With the Blades in the kind of form they have shown so far, it means that for only the second time this term, Burnley being the other, Luton will assume the role of underdogs going into the contest. So far Town have struggled to make the most of their favourites tag in the second tier, but Edwards doesn’t think a perceived release of pressure should make any difference, adding: “I’ve not thought about it at all, but it will be the case at the moment with both teams’ form, so that’s just there.

"I don’t see it being a factor in the game, at all. I think when you go away and for us, we go to any team that are going to be at the top end, those teams are going to be the favourites anyway, but I get it. Over the last couple of games when we’ve been the favourites we’ve not lived up to that, which we’ve got to do better, but no I don’t think that plays a factor. Hopefully it just gets the juices flowing for us knowing this is a really big game and a really tough one.”

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