Luton boss Rob Edwards won’t get carried away with Elijah Adebayo’s last-gasp FA Cup fourth-round replay winner at Wigan because Town are back at the DW Stadium on Saturday.
The third-round replay looked to be heading to extra time until the eighth minute of added time when Harry Cornick floated a cross, Tom Lockyer made a nuisance of himself and the striker saw the last man slip for him to fire into the bottom corner on the turn.
It was Adebayo’s second goal in as many games and it saw the Hatters come from behind after Thelo Aasgaard fired the Latics into the lead just after half-time.
But Town were only behind for five minutes before Cauley Woodrow bagged his second for the club, first forcing a save from Ben Amos but then squeezing in the rebound with a little help from defender Jack Whatmough on the line.
It set the stage for Adebayo’s late show which kept Town’s FA Cup dream alive, setting up a fourth-round clash at home to League Two Grimsby, while preventing an energy-sapping extra 30 minutes ahead of a second Latics clash in a week when the two do battle in the Championship at the weekend.
Edwards said: “We started the second half in very strange fashion. They scored a great goal but it was poor from our point of view. We showed loads of character to come back quickly and ultimately keep going, pushing and found a winner, so we’re delighted.
“We want to stay humble. We’re back here on Saturday, so we’re not going to get carried away. It’s a great feeling now. We come here in the league on Saturday and it will probably be a different feel, so I just want to stay grounded and not get carried away. But of course, we’re very, very pleased.
“It’s great to win a game, especially late on and the way we did it in the end. I’m delighted for Eli. Another goal. Two goals in two so that’s really good as well.”
Adebayo led the line for Luton with top scorer Carlton Morris left out with a calf strain, which Edwards admitted casts, “an element of doubt for the weekend”. But despite the weekend’s league return to Wigan, Edwards left the big man up top and it paid dividends.
The manager told the BBC: “The game was going to extra time and he’s actually one of our penalty takers so we had to think about that. We wanted to keep as many goal threats on the pitch.
“We knew we’d get another opportunity to make subs if it had gone to extra time, so we were holding a couple just in case. I’m really pleased it didn’t have to go to that.”
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