Roles reversed as Hatters boss finds himself chasing the top two with Luton

Hatters boss Rob Edwards is finding it’s a case of the roles being reversed this season as he looks to hunt down second-placed Sheffield United in an attempt to pip the Blade for second spot in the Championship.

Last term, Edwards had been in the South Yorkshire club’s position, well, leaders Burnley in fact, when his Forest Green Rovers side were in League Two.

Then, they had a 16 point advantage over the chasing pack at one point, as although they stuttered in the final weeks, still had enough to finish as champions on goal difference over Exeter, although only four points ahead of fourth placed Northampton Town in the end.

Edwards now finds himself in the position of managing a side looking to come up on the rails and overtake the team who have been in the top two for a large chunk of the campaign, as a win at Bramall Lane on Saturday saw the deficit down to seven points.

It could be down to four, or even widened to 10, depending on this evening’s results, as the Hatters host Bristol City, with United going to Sunderland.

Asked about just what it was like finding himself in the Blades’ position last term and now as one of the clubs coming up in their rearview mirror, he said: “I suppose any situation would be slightly different.

"In ours we’d been top from day one really, and at one stage we were around 12 points clear and I think there were a few things.

"When you reflect, look back and think what was the reason it became quite difficult?

"Because it did become a challenge for us to continue the level and continue getting the points that we were getting.

"I don’t know whether subliminally or not people thought we were there, we're done, which of course wasn’t the case.

"It wasn’t any information from any kind of staff, the information in training was always we’ve got to keep going.

"We managed to keep a really consistent team, I don’t know whether one or two were beginning to run out of a little bit of juice, other teams might have lifted their game more against you, some teams are playing with less pressure and pressure is there.

"So there’s lots of factors and maybe even if it’s one per cent of all of those things, it just sort of adds up and it is difficult.

"I don’t want to comment on Sheffield United and make any big headlines that way, we’re just going to concentrate on ourselves and it can be difficult.

"The expectations there, the pressure is there, they’re a big football club, they’ve been there pretty much all season long and people will just be expecting them to do it.

"Everyone was just talking about the top two are done, maybe it’s not the case?

"They're experienced, they’ve been there before, they’ll know what to do, but it can be difficult in that position.

“I'd take that (being second), given they are on seven points more, but we are where we are and we've got to make sure we make the most of it and try and win, that's all we can do."