Luton boss Rob Edwards could understand why some supporters weren’t happy with his decision to take off popular midfielder Tom Krauß against West Bromwich Albion during last night’s 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road, although felt it proved to be the right call to make.
Despite a first half in which few players from either side caught the eye, the on-loan Mainz player, who was making his seventh start for the Hatters, had been enjoying a decent enough outing himself, snapping into some tackles and curling one attempt wide of the target. He also produced two moments of quality that was in desperately short supply, one through ball to Elijah Adebayo that saw visiting keeper Alex Palmer come haring out of his goal to clear, and another outside of the boot pass to Carlton Morris for Town’s skipper to shoot goalwards, Palmer saving comfortably.
However, with the Baggies ahead through Josh Maja’s strike in first half stoppage time, Edwards took off Victor Moses at the break and brought on the fit-again Shandon Baptiste, then opting to make a double change with 56 minutes gone, withdrawing Adebayo and Krauß for Jacob Brown and Liam Walsh. There were plenty of boos heard from the stands when Krauß’s number went up and he made his way off the pitch, a number feeling it should have been Jordan Clark making way instead, as he went on to complete the full match once more.
Those jeers soon turned to cheers though, Tahith Chong latching on to sideways pass in the Baggies’ half and going on to drive his shot past Palmer and into the bottom corner to level the scores. Although Edwards didn’t go to his bench again for the remainder of the match, the trio who came on all played their part in Town having the better of things when they were on the pitch, Baptiste’s corners causing real danger, Daiki Hashioka heading one against the woodwork, as Walsh’s cool head when in possession was particularly noticeable too.
Speaking about his decision afterwards, the Hatters chief said: “I went early with a couple of subs, so I pleased with the impact they had. I had to make some big calls and some people weren’t happy with Tom coming off, I understand that. Tom’s good but different to Walshy and we wanted someone then who could give us a bit more control which he did, so that was it and it worked.
“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 that we were going to just go into the strikers and that might free up a bit more space for Shandon and Walshy. That’s why we made those decisions as well, so I pleased that it worked.”
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