Edwards praises Town's players for carrying out his gameplan to perfection

Luton chief Rob Edwards praised his players for delivering his gameplan to perfection as the Hatters reached the Championship play-off final by beating Sunderland 3-2 on aggregate last night.

Town's job before kick-off was clear, win by two goals to earn a place at the home of football, which they did in front of a Kenilworth Road crowd that reached volumes previously unmatched courtesy of first half goals from Gabe Osho and Tom Lockyer.

The hosts simply overpowered their opponents on the night, too strong for them in every area of the pitch, as they were magnificent to a man.

Visiting boss Tony Mowbray bemoaned the direct nature of the Hatters’ tactics, as although knowing exactly what was coming his side’s way, was unable to do anything to combat it.

It was the complete opposite for Edwards of course, as when asked if his players had carried out everything he had planned for them, the Town manager said: “They did, if we could have written a gameplan and written it out like that, it was spot on really.

"The stuff that we’d worked on and talked out and gone through in the meetings or out on the grass yesterday, it was perfectly delivered.

"The players have shown a lot of intelligence, bravery, hard work and grit, so I’m really, really pleased with them.

“We started fast and we knew where our strengths lay and where they might be lacking a little bit and we took advantage of that.

"We scored a couple of good goals, but I’ll be honest, we could have had a lot more as well and I think that was really obvious.

"We had a few cleared off the line, open goal missed towards the end, it was a really strong performance.”

Having gone 2-0 ahead by the interval, it was vital that the Hatters didn't just try and sit on their lead, and there was none of that, Jordan Clark missing an open goal, Elijah Adebayo not getting his shot off in time and thundering a header over.

In stoppage time, Cody Drameh couldn't find an empty net with keeper Anthony Patterson up for a corner, but Edwards was pleased with how his side managed the game.

He continued: “They know that and we try to talk about we’re always pressing, you can press from different heights of the pitch, but we always try to press and be aggressive.

"If you recall Cody Drameh pressing and that 60-yard run he did to go and get pressure in their left back area, Alfie Doughty did something similar on his side.

"It was important we didn’t retreat, which we did a little bit in the second half at the Stadium of Light.

"We need to try and be on the front foot still and not let them have the spaces to play which is difficult to do when you’ve worked really hard for a long period of time.

"They’re throwing everything at it, it can be difficult, the natural thing is to just go there (sit back).

"So I’m really pleased that we stayed on the front foot and tried to continue to press."

Following the combined 180 minutes, Edwards felt his side deserved to progress, with the stats backing that up too, Luton with 27 shots, 10 on target, compared to the visitors’ 24 and five.

He said: “I was really pleased, I thought over the two legs we deserved it.

“We wanted to try and win both games, I thought we played well in the first half up there and they had their moments.

“They had their moments as they’ve got 40 odd thousand people at the Stadium of Light and they’ve got some really good players.

“We probably got a bit of criticism with the second half performance, but they’re good as well, we’ve got to remember that, there’s another good team there.

"We could have been better of course, but they’re going to have a spell.

"They won the game but we limited them to very little chances there and tonight I thought we were exceptional.”

One thing that Edwards might not have plotted was the two goalscorers, Lockyer and Osho, who until recently, hadn't been regulars on the scoresheet for the Hatters.

That didn’t bother the Town chief one iota though, as he added: “We don’t care who scores as long as they do.

"They’ve chipped in with a few goals recently those lads and Carlton had one cleared off the line, there were a couple of others as well.

"There were a couple of big chances, Cody's one right towards the end as well, but I don’t care who scares as long as we do.”