Woodrow's attitude earns high praise despite Luton striker not getting the game time he wants
Forward has a hand in both of Town’s goals against Derby on Friday night
Hatters boss Rob Edwards has been hugely impressed with the attitude shown by attacker Cauley Woodrow despite his understandable disappointment at a lack of game time this season.
After getting a mere 11 minutes from his solitary outing in the first six fixtures, the 30-year-old has now started once, that the 5-1 defeat at Middlesbrough in early November, and come off the bench a further eight times in Luton’s last 16 fixtures. It means Woodrow has managed only 204 minutes of first team football from his 10 appearances in total, with a quarter of those coming on a depressing day at the Riverside.
When introduced to the fray, it has more often than not been with the Hatters having been behind in the game, especially away from home, Woodrow usually coming on and playing out of position, charged with trying to help his side glean something from the contest against an opposition that now have the upper hand.
It worked a treat on Friday night, the forward part of a triple substitution made by Edwards on 68 minutes when Luton 1-0 down to Derby County at Kenilworth Road, as he had a hand in both goals, his free-kicks leading to Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu’s thumping volley that flew in off team-mate Tom Holmes, and another eventually seeing Carlton Morris win it in stoppage time.
Speaking about how the striker has been with his role in the team, Edwards said: “I pulled him today and it would have gone under the radar at the Blackburn game because of the result, and because it was away and not as many would have seen it, but he was really good when he came on against Blackburn as well, so I’m really pleased with his contributions when he’s come on in the last couple of games.
"He’s always got a great attitude, he’s brilliant around the place. He works incredibly hard, but it’s nice to have an impact in a game like that and be involved in us turning the game around so quickly. I’m really pleased for him as he’s a great guy Caul and I know its been difficult for him with the game time. He’s someone that’s desperate to play, but you can never fault his attitude every single day.
"When you’re putting forwards on you’re either doing it to freshen or to inject more energy if you want to try and see a game out, and we have done that with him in the past. He’s been able to even do one of the sides if we go to a 5-4-1, or something like that, but the last couple of games we’ve been down to 10 men so he’s had to drop back into midfield.
"He had to do the same when we really went for it the other night as well, moving him to a different exposition. He’s got a good understanding, a good brain and he’s able to show his versatility, but make good decisions at the right moments as well. So I’m really pleased with his impact and you’d love to play everyone, but you can’t, you have to make difficult decisions at times.
"You need people as well who can handle it, be mature about it, train really well and just try and do the right things to get in the team. He’s always there and you need people like that, not happy to not play, he’s desperate to do that, but his last two impacts from the bench have started putting him right there in my face, so really good.”
You only had to look at the way in which Woodrow celebrated Morris’s last-gasp winner over Derby to see just what it meant to him for the club that he came through the ranks with, making his senior debut almost 15 years ago (an FA Trophy tie at Welling United in December 2010), gaining another crucial three second tier points. Edwards added: “It’s a special place for him.
"It was 14 years last Saturday when he made his debut for the club, it will mean a lot to him and I think it’s important to stress that as well. Yes they’re football players, but especially the lads that are here, they’re not mercenaries. They care about the football club and he’s certainly someone that does that.”