Luton defender focused on matters in hand despite uncertainty surrounding Hatters boss

​Luton defender Mark McGuinness insists Town’s players can only focus on matters on the pitch despite the uncertainty surrounding manager Rob Edwards’ future.

The Hatters take on Hull City tomorrow at Kenilworth Road, with Edwards fully expected to be in the dug-out once more, despite appearing to have taken his last game when thrashed 5-1 at Middlesbrough last time out, stating afterwards he didn’t want to be a ‘divisive figure’ to supporters and appearing to wave to the travelling faithful having been jeered once more at the full time whistle.

However, no news has come out of the club since the trip to the Riverside almost a fortnight ago now, which means Edwards will no doubt remain in charge of Luton when the Tigers are in town on Saturday. Like a number of the squad, McGuinness has been away from Bedfordshire for the last week or so, on international duty with the Republic of Ireland, going on to make his senior debut in the 5-0 National League defeat to England at Wembley on Sunday.

The centre half had been happy to have a breather from club football, as he believed it would be good for the rest of his team-mates too give Town’s start to the campaign. Speaking while with the Irish, asked about the Hatters’ most recent clash in the north east, and current position of 21st in the table, he said: “It’s not been going well for us at the minute. This break has probably come at a good time really to refresh, clear the head and focus on something else for the moment. We have a big task to get back to when this break is all over.”

Asked about the pressure on Edwards following Town’s eighth defeat from just 15 matches this season, McGuinness continued: “That's not for me to say, I can't comment on the manager's situation. All I can focus on is how we are performing and we know we aren’t performing well enough at the minute. So we need to take responsibility for that and then whatever happens from that happens, it's football."

Although he has yet to show his true potential for the Hatters, despite flashes in the 1-0 victory over former side Cardiff recently and the 3-0 thrashing of local rivals Watford, McGuinness insisted that on the ball he will always be comfortable, adding: “I'm not a perfect player, there's going to be things that I need to work on. If I was sat here saying I was perfect I’d be lying to you.

"Distribution is something I do feel I’m good at in terms of long distance passing, short passing, from my academy days at Arsenal and growing up with that. Seeing top level players and being involved in that you can’t get away with not being tidy on the ball. It’s something that everyone can work on and the higher up you go the more demand there is for you to play and get on the ball.”