Luton chief insists there is 'more to come' from Walsh after his full Hatters debut

Luton boss Rob Edwards believes there is much more to come from midfielder Liam Walsh after the former Everton youngster was handed his full debut for the club during Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Millwall.

The 26-year-old only moved to Kenilworth Road recently, signing on a free transfer after being released from fellow second tier side Swansea City in the summer, having caught Edwards’ eye during his time as a talented youngster at Goodison Park. Having played the second half of Town’s Carabao Cup exit at QPR earlier this month, Walsh also came on in the second half of the 2-1 home defeat to the same side recently.

Following the international break and a chance to build up his fitness even further at the Brache during an inter-squad friendly, Walsh was then given a starting berth at the New Den, his first since beginning the Swans clash with West Bromwich Albion on New Year’s Day, one of three changes made by Edwards in a bid to gain a first victory of the campaign, which included dropping skipper Carlton Morris to the bench.

He went on to impress in both sides of his game, coolly setting up Teden Mengi for his brilliant sidefoot finish into the corner of the net after just 10 minutes which proved to be the only goal of the encounter. Walsh then had three shots himself, two on target, twice firing straight at Lions keeper Lukas Jensen in the second period, although should probably have done better with his second opportunity when arriving late into the area after Tahith Chong had dummied Jordan Clark’s low cross.

A passing accuracy of 84.2 percent from his 38 attempts was the highest for the visitors, while, as he had promised when joining the club, Walsh was eager to get stuck in to the task ahead, making three tackles, the same as Reece Burke, Alfie Doughty and Amari’i Bell. One crunching challenge on George Honeyman saw the game then stopped as referee Josh Smith decided, for reasons only known to him, to talk to all parties and both managers about the full-blooded nature of the tackle.

He also went on to make three clearances and one interception too, lasting 89 minutes, the longest he had played since March 2021 when having the full game for former side Bristol City against Rotherham United. Although there was the odd misplaced pass to Mark McGuinness when Town were trying to play out from the back, which did put Town under some unnecessary pressure at times, Walsh’s desire to get on the ball and guide his side through Millwall’s press was apparent from the word go, as speaking about his overall efforts, Edwards said: “There were one or two moments we got caught, and they jump on stuff, but I want us to be brave and people understand that.

"We want to continue to try and take control of the game as if we just kick it back then it’s just coming back with interest. We did get caught once or twice, there’s bits there we can no doubt be better at, but I think all the midfielders, Marv (Nakamba), Pells (Mpanzu), Walshy, all did at times, which is something that we can keep looking at. But he (Walsh) is very brave. He’s really good and intelligent with the ball and there’s more to come from him. It's really really early days for him, but I was pleased.”