Luton chief reveals why he didn't make any substitutions during Potters victory

Luton boss Rob Edwards has explained his rare decision to not make any substitutions during last night’s 2-1 victory over Stoke City at Kenilworth Road.

It was the first time that the former Welsh international hasn’t gone to his bench for replacements during a game since taking over at the club back in November 2022, and also the first time that any Town manager hasn’t done so since John Still was in charge of a 3-1 League Two victory at Cambridge United back in September 2015, Luke Guttridge, Luke Wilkinson and Danny Green all on target that day.

It worked as Tahith Chong was fouled for a free kick that Jordan Clark sent into the box and with Elijah Adebayo still on the field, the striker was perfectly positioned inside the area to cleverly divert Tom Krauß’s mishit shot into the net as the clock ticked into the 90th minute, securing a huge win for Edwards and his struggling Hatters side.

Asked why he hadn’t brought anyone on, especially with it being the second game of a three match week, the Town chief said: “From probably 20 minutes onwards, I’m thinking about it a lot, how to impact it, how to change it. It was really difficult tonight, I thought they were all in the game, thought they were still full of running. It was difficult to make a change, an impact. We want to try and win the game, want to try and be positive, so I was thinking how do I get Joe (Taylor) here or Cauley (Woodrow) there?

"But I just felt those three at the top end were all good and a nuisance and retained a lot of threat as well. Also thinking about set-pieces, defending as well as attacking. They’re big for us on the defending as well, Eli and Carlton (Morris) especially, Browny (Jacob Brown) as well, so there’s all that going through our heads. It’s nice in the end that decision to not change worked as well.”

The only time the boss did consider it was when Adebayo pounced late on, as he thought about bringing on an extra defender to shore the game up for the three minutes of stoppage time, but ultimately opted against it, adding: “I started to go straight into action, get Mads back and think do we need to make a defensive change and see this out? But the coaches said we’re good with where we’re at. We’ve got a good balance with the group we’ve got on the pitch at the moment, so it was good.”