Edwards unsurprised that 'confident' Watson had such an influence on his full Championship debut for Luton

Luton boss Rob Edwards felt young midfielder Louie Watson made the most of what he believed was a deserved chance in Town’s starting line-up when handed his full Championship debut for the Hatters against Huddersfield Town on New Year’s Day.

With Jordan Clark absent following the 3-0 victory at QPR on Thursday, Watson got the nod in the holding role at the John Smith’s Stadium and gave an excellent display during his 65 minutes of the 2-1 victory.

Eager to get on the ball at every opportunity, always making himself available to receive possession from Luton’s back-line, Watson managed a wonderful 94.9% accuracy from his 39 passes attempted, using his body impressively to make space with a confident performance that belied his 21 years of age.

Speaking afterwards, Edwards said: “He’s a good player and that’s why he got his chance.

"He deserves it, we were missing Jordan and we felt that Louie was the right person to come in and play, especially against their shape at times.

"You can see he was that spare man and when we could get it to him, it brought one of their midfielders out and created space for our forwards behind that.

"We created Eli’s (Elijah Adebayo) chance from that exact thing, out to Louie, out to Alfie (Doughty), back into the front man and round the corner for Eli, so he was influential, and I’m really pleased for him.

"There’s still bits for him to keep working on as there is for every player and he’ll keep working hard and keep his feet on the ground as he’s a great lad, but I’m pleased he’s had his first taste of it for us.

Although it wasn’t his first taste of second tier action, Watson having played 13 times for Derby County prior to his move to Kenilworth Road in the summer, starting four times for the Rams, he had only played a handful of minutes for Town, that coming when they were 4-0 down at Watford back in October.

Despite his lack of game time, the former West Ham youngster and Republic of Ireland U21 international wasn’t lacking in confidence when taking to field, which is nothing less than Edwards expected.

He continued: “He’s a confident boy and a good footballer.

"Good footballers are confident in their ability anyway, and we just said to him, ‘go and be brave, go and do what you do every single day for us in training since we’ve been here.’

"And he did that.”

Goalscorer Reece Burke wasn’t surprised to see Watson make such an impression either, as he added: “Louie’s been working really hard.

"He’s a great player as well, new management so he’s got his chance today and hopefully that carries on for him.

"He works hard every day in training and he’s got potential and we all know that.

"We can all see that and it’s another add to the team.”