Town chief thrilled to hand popular Luton stopper his first top flight outing during Cottagers finale

Luton boss Rob Edwards was elated to get the chance to hand long-serving goalkeeper James Shea his Premier League debut during the latter stages of Town’s final day 4-2 defeat against Fulham on Sunday.

The 32-year-old is one of four players along with Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, Luke Berry and Dan Potts, who have been with the club since their days in League Two having joined seven years ago in the summer of 2017. He had made 107 appearances in that time, including 41 as the Hatters won the League One title in 2019, before getting his most memorable run-out of all, the final 15 minutes when replacing Thomas Kaminski as Luton ultimately bowed out of the top flight in front of a packed Kenilworth Road.

When summoned from the bench, the popular Shea earned a terrific reception from the 12,000 fans in attendance, as he showed he has lost none of his reactions either, producing a wonderful save to tip over Tom Cairney’s effort from range that was dipping under the bar, also using his feet well to clear the danger from another Cottagers attack. Speaking about his decision to give Shea some game time, Edwards said: “He means a lot to the club, to the supporters, you saw the reception that he got, so that was always the plan today.

“The goalkeepers union had a bit of a chat, everyone was on board with it and I think that sums up what we’re about. Thomas Kaminski could have played every minute of every game this year, but he’s willing to sacrifice those minutes for his mate and someone who means a lot to this football club. He made a great save as well, he’s kept a clean sheet in the Premier League, he’s got that now!”

Although Shea has been on the bench for the second half of the season, with Luton’s injury horrendous injury problems leaving Edwards with a threadbare squad, he has been viewed as number three behind Kaminski and the vastly experienced Tim Krul who signed in the summer. On how the change in role has been for the former Arsenal and AFC Wimbledon stopper, Edwards continued: “He’s so important to all of us.

"The goalkeeper one is a really difficult one as there’s only one position, so it’s really unique that bond they make and they create. They’ve been a really good working group this year, they back each other and push each other and Sheasy’s been a big part of that.”

With Shea out of contract in the summer and Jack Walton coming back from his successful loan spell at Scottish Championship side Dundee United, whom he helped win the title, asked if that had been a farewell for the stopper, or if he was staying, Edwards added: “It’s something that’s ongoing. We’ve had some good discussions, he knows what I think. I don’t want to say too much at the moment, but I’m hopeful.”