Town chief up for the challenge of keeping 'talented' ex-Brentford midfielder fit

​Luton boss Rob Edwards has highlighted the importance of keeping midfielder Shandon Baptiste fit after seeing just what he can produce on the pitch during Friday night's 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion.

The 26-year-old made the move to Kenilworth Road in the summer after spending three-and-a-half injury-hit years at Brentford, making just 78 appearances in that time. Having joined the Bees from Oxford for just over £2m in January 2020, a campaign in which he played 40 matches in all competitions, Baptiste then suffered a serious knee injury during his first full season in West London, with ankle, shoulder and groin issues limiting his availability for Thomas Frank's side.

Released by the Bees in May, Baptiste then headed to Bedfordshire on a free transfer, starting Luton's first four league games in the Championship, showing glimpses of being the kind of player that Brentford shelled out a seven figure sum to sign and involving in more than 50 top flight matches, before suffering a hamstring issue following the 2-1 defeat to OPR.

Out for a month, he returned to impress as a late substitute during the 2-0 loss at Sheffield United, but was then absent for the next three matches due to another problem picked up in training. Finally back in the squad for the 1-1 draw with the Baggies on Friday night, Baptiste came on for Victor Moses at the break for what was just his 100th league appearance since turning pro in 2017, with Town trailing 1-0, Josh Maja having put the visitors in front.

The Grenada international was a big part of why the Hatters were able to get back into the game with a strong performance in the centre of the pitch, allowing Luton have to have the better of things, as he almost created a winner, his dangerous corner headed against the post by Daiki Hashioka. On bringing him on when he did, and trying to make sure he can feature heavily in Town’s season from this point onwards, Baptiste with just 38 league starts in his career to date, Edwards said: “I made that call, I wanted to get Shandon on as he’s a really talented footballer, really good and the big challenge for all of us is keeping him fit and available all the time.

“We knew that when we brought him in as he’s got loads of talent. He’s someone I’ve liked and admired for a long, long time. That’s why I wanted to get him on the pitch early. It was just a feeling. We’d spoken about it before the game in terms of a scenario but then at half time I felt it was the right thing. We’re 1-0 down, we’ve got to take that risk, he gives us loads of quality and I was really pleased with his impact.”