Rob Edwards hailed Carlton Morris’s ‘magic’ 18th goal of the season which helped down Rotherham United and maintain Luton’s promotion push by extending their unbeaten streak in the Championship to a more than 40-year best.
The top scorer popped up with his second winner in two matches with a stylish top-corner curler just before half-time, a strike which saw him equal the best second-tier return from a Hatter since Steve Howard 18 years ago.
Edwards said: “We certainly deserved it. At the back end of the first half, I thought we were outstanding. I thought we had 20-25 minutes of real control, dominated the game and probed really well. We got to the final third well, but just lacked that little bit of a spark, but it was coming.
“It was Carlton’s head just before and then one or two moments and then Carlton’s magic got us a goal to go into half-time to say, ‘look, there’s loads of good stuff going on, but that’s how we’re going to kick on.”
There was slight concern on 66 minutes when the goalscorer was withdrawn, particularly as his regular striker partner Elijah Adebayo was missing from the starting line-up with an ankle injury.
Edwards said of the early end to Morris’ afternoon: “It’s just precautionary. He’s just feeling his ankle, so we’ll see how he is. You saw him walking off, so I don’t think he’s too concerned but at that stage we all are. Of course, he’s a really important player for us and that was the reason we got him off when we did.”
But before that, two minutes after the break, in fact, the points were secured by Cauley Woodrow who replaced Adebayo and netted from the penalty at the second time of asking, after his initial shot was saved.
“Cauley came in who hasn’t started as much as he would like. I thought he was terrific as well, so I’m really, really pleased,” Edwards told the BBC.
“(There was a) fantastic bit of skill from Cody (Drameh) at the beginning of the second half to get the penalty to go 2-0 up.
“Then the onus is not on us to go chasing the game. When we’re in that stage – and they (Rotherham) made some changes and changed shape – I think I want our lads to belief in themselves even more.
“They showed the first half how good they are in keeping the ball. We can be good and see the game out with a little bit more control, if you like, but it’s hard when they throw the kitchen sink at you.
“Overall, I delighted with that group in there (dressing room). They fight so hard for each other, for the badge, for the club, for the fans, and that’s why they’re so happy going home today as well.”
The victory stretched the Hatters’ superb form to a tenth game unbeaten, and 11th on the road, which is their longest unbeaten run in the second tier since they were promoted to the top flight in 1982. For the class of 2023, the victory saw them return to third spot in the Championship following Middlesbrough’s 5-1 romp past Norwich last night saw Boro temporarily leapfrog Town.
And with Preston North End losing to Millwall, Town’s victory at the New York Stadium stretched their play-off buffer to 12 points, for a few hours at least, with seventh-placed Blackburn Rovers playing Hull City in the day’s late kick-off.
But Luton are still being kept at arm’s length by second-placed Sheffield United, who in the day’s early kick-off came from a goal down against Cardiff to win 4-1 and maintain a five-point gap between them and the Hatters.
Edwards said of the Blades: “They’re in a really commanding position. They’ve done really well and they’ve still got their game in hand. But we’ll just try to win as many games as possible and get as many points as we can. That’s all we can do.
“We’ve got real momentum at the moment and if it is going to be the play-offs then we need to take that momentum into those games. That’s ten games unbeaten, so it’s with us and we’ve got to keep that going.”
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