Blanks won’t worry Edwards as long as Adebayo keeps being a ‘handful’

Rob Edwards doesn’t care if Elijah Adebayo’s goalless streak continues as long as the striker can replicate his new “standard” against Watford – because other Hatters will find the net instead. 

The Luton striker is expected to face Sunderland tonight, still searching for his first goal of the season after 11 appearances in all competitions.

But having led the line on his own for the previous three games, derby day saw him paired with captain Carlton Morris and in an almost unplayable display from both against their arch-rivals the Hornets, the skipper did score in a 3-0 romp.

Manager Edwards hailed Morris for a leader’s day both on and off the pitch, saying it was arguably his best game as a Hatter, but also reserved praise for Adebayo’s more understated, but no less important performance. 

“It was incredible,” said the Hatters chief, adding: “I’m watching a lot of it back as well. He’d have done things that people watching wouldn’t necessarily see, but was so effective and so helpful to the whole performance. Some of his pressing, but pressing backwards as well, was so effective. 

“He has been working really, really hard, but that was another level again. So he’s set himself a standard there again now, and when he performs like that works that hard, is that much of a handful, of course I want him to score, everyone does, (but) I don’t really care because someone else will. Those two (Adebayo and Morris) gave us an unbelievable platform to play from.”

And when Morris was sacrificed due to the in-game injuries of Tom Holmes, Reece Burke, Tahith Chong and Tom Krauß, Jacob Brown replaced the captain and then marked his return form a long injury lay-off with his first goal since December in the Premier League. 

Edwards said: “I think Sheff U aside, we still created chances in a lot of other games where we haven’t scored as many goals. And we know that we’ve got to be more ruthless and take chances. 

“I think maybe the first goal (against Watford) gave that element of luck with the first one helped, and it was nice to then get a couple more. 

“Brilliant for Browny. He’d been out for a long, long time. and then when he came on, we had to use him in a bit of a different sort of way, because defensively, we needed to just make sure that we won the game as well. 

“But he’s so reliable. And then he got his opportunity and took it. So really, really pleased for him because it’s been really challenging for him a long time out.”