Luton players credited Rob Edwards with a “great talk” at half-time to inspire them to fight back against West Bromwich Albion last night and earn a battling point – even if the manager couldn’t remember it himself.
Town dominated for a third home game in a row, but the Baggies struck first through Josh Maja with their first effort on target just before the stroke of half time.
The Hatters continued to press the visitors and that eventually paid off when Tahith Chong stole a loose pass at the back from Alex Mowatt and fired a leveller to finish 1-1 and end two straight defeats and lift Luton out of the Championship bottom three overnight.
Captain Carlton Morris told Sky Sports: “No-one was down at half-time, the gaffer gave a great talk that made us all motivated to come out in the second half and put on that display.”
Chong added: “I’ve got to give compliments to the manager as well, the way he came in and kind of made adjustments. The calmness but still motivated us to go back out and did his adjustments.
“So, it’s a compliment to him as well, and compliments to the boys, taking that on board.”
Asked what Edwards said to fire up his players, the goalscorer added: “I think he’s, in a way, positive and then still being critical. We knew we had to give more and had to come out flying in the second half and give more energy and press more and go after the game.
“That’s basically what he said to us. The boys took that on well, but I think, it’s weird because I think we’re still slightly disappointed, because we really wanted to, to win the game.
“We felt like we deserved to win, but sometimes that’s football and you don’t always get what you deserve.”
Being told of the kind words from the former Manchester United man, Edwards said: “I think he’s a wonderful young man and he’s been brought up really well, so he’s just being very polite, I think.”
The Town boss admitted he couldn’t even remember what he said at the break.
“It must have just been one of those moments that you just sort of go into to action mode,” he said, adding: “We always try and give them some clear messages and then just hopefully some belief and positivity as well. A lot of the stuff was good there. It wasn’t a case of having to change loads.
“What we always try and do is give the lads five minutes so they can think. We have a few minutes as a group of staff to talk about the game. What you can’t let affect you too much then is one moment, because that’s what it was, one moment where they’ve got it into the box.
“We didn’t deal with the long balls. It comes back out, didn’t block it. Good finish and all that, but you can’t let that then just completely derail you and change fully what you’re going to do.”
He added: “We’re doing a lot well. A lot of the game was where we wanted it to be. It was just the final bit that I felt we could we could improve.
“I’ve always got a bit to say at half time, but it wasn’t a rant or a rave because a lot of it was good. It was about, (thinking) right, I’m going to be calm. Just make sure now that we act in the right way and, keep doing what’s causing them problems.”
However, Edwards admitted that the West Brom goal against the run of play did inspire the half-time substitution that saw midfielder Shandon Baptiste replace Victor Moses for only his second appearance in two injury-hit months.
“It did make me it did make me make a change because I felt we needed that fresh impetus,” he said.
“I felt that maybe just lacked a little bit of energy or something that final bit. But I wouldn’t have done the change necessarily if we hadn’t have conceded.
“So, it made me tweak something, but the message was probably the same.
“Our pressing is ridiculous. It’s so good and they just chose to just miss it all the time. So, that’s fine. (They) gave us the ball it was the right thing to do to go early with a couple of the subs, because I felt then that they were starting to drop, thinking they were going to go into the strikers and it might just free up a bit more space for Shandon and Walshie (Liam Walsh).
“That’s why we made those decisions as well. So, yeah, I’m pleased that it worked.”
