Town chief happy to see goals flying in from all areas as Luton look to break down miserly Baggies

Luton boss Rob Edwards has been happy to see the goals flying in from all areas during his brief tenure in charge of the Hatters.

Saturday’s FA Cup third round 1-1 draw against Wigan Athletic saw Harry Cornick break his duck for the season and become the eighth player to find the net for the Hatters in just five games since the ex-Forest Green Rovers boss took over from Nathan Jones.

On the stat, Edwards said: “We’re scoring goals, it’s the hardest thing to do in football, so to have a number of players that have scored, to be a threat from different areas on the pitch is a strength.

“It’s great to have forwards who are off the mark and scoring as well because strikers are generally the ones in those areas, that smell it, and are the ones used to taking their chances.

“It’s good to have different areas that can come up with the goods, whether that’s from a set-piece or a centre back that’s joined in, or whether that’s a wingback that’s played a one-two and smashed one in from the edge of the box.

“There’s been some good goals from the team.

"What we’ve got to make sure we do now, which we didn’t do as well as we’d like against Wigan, is that when we get into those dangerous areas, we want to create some bigger chances.

“That is difficult to do because the teams we come up against defend well and in numbers, like we try to do when you’re trying to deny a goalscoring opportunity as much as possible.

“It’s the hardest thing to do in football but it’s one we’re going to keep working on as well and trying to keep creating big chances.”

The strikes have been coming from all over the pitch as well, with Alfie Doughty crashing in a beauty against QOR that has since been nominated for the Championship Goal of the Month award.

Jordan Clark set the tone with his individual strike against Middlesbrough, while there have been subsequent crackers from Allan Campbell and Cauley Woodrow too.

It’s not something Edwards would take credit for personally though, as he continued: “We encourage players to be brave and take risks but I can’t claim that at all.

"I think that’s down to the players’ quality.

"I would love to create more gilt-edged opportunities, you can’t keep banging them in from 30 yards all the time.

“We want to keep creating really good opportunities.

"Whether that’s cut-backs and good numbers in the box, or tap-ins from three of four yards, those are the ones we want to create, those are the hardest ones to create as well.

“But we’ve scored some really good goals, which is brilliant for the lads, but creating a few chances is what our focus is on as well.”

Town will need to have all their creativity about them this afternoon as well, going up against a West Bromwich Albion side who have conceded just two goals in their last nine league outings.

It won’t be an area the boss will highlight in any pre-match meeting though, as he said: “It’s not something that we’ll bang on about too much, ‘no-one scores against these lads, so all the best!’

"They’re a good team and they’re in good form, and we’ve got to make sure we’re right at it and we’re at our best to get anything from this game.

"But we know if we are then we can, we can score against them and we can win the game because we’re a real handful for any team in this league.

"We know the quality that we’re coming up against, they’ve found a really good way of playing, with or without the ball.

"They can make some subtle tweaks in how to build and areas and spaces to try and attack and exploit.

“From a defensive point of view, they’re very solid, they’re compact, they’ve got a good shape about them and they’re difficult to break down, but we’ll try our best to do that.”

The timing of Luton’s goals under Edwards has seen three arrive in the final 10 minutes which the manager felt was also a good sign, adding: “It’s certainly really pleasing when we do score late goals and late winners.

"It means we’re still fighting, still believing and still working really hard to win a game.

“The way we’ve won some of our games recently, that’s been really pleasing.

"They’ve all been in a different manner as well, whether that’s with 10 men and coming from behind, or whether it’s a set-piece goal against QPR.

"Whatever way it’s been, it’s a different way of winning. That’s been great.

“It’s really pleasing when you do score late.

"It might be a fitness element as well, but certainly that never-say-die attitude that we’re going to fight to the very end, that’s what we want to keep instilling in the players.”