Hatters chief impressed by 'silky' Luton defender Osho

Town boss Rob Edwards was eager to talk up the ‘silky’ skills of defender Gabe Osho after his excellent display during the 1-0 win over Swansea City on Saturday.

The 24-year-old was fit enough to retain his place in the side and start a sixth successive Championship affair, having gone off late on in the 2-2 draw with Millwall in midweek due to a knee problem.

Deployed as the right sided centre half once more, Osho impressed when in possession, particularly in the first half.

Often receiving the ball with opposition players around him, the ex-Reading youngster showed his confidence to break through the visiting press on a number of occasions and get Town on the front foot.

The Swans often had to resort to bringing him down to stop his surges forward, while he also made it deep into opposition territory during that opening 45 minutes, dropping a shoulder and hammering a shot over the bar.

After the break, Osho was required to dig in more with the Swans enjoying some concerted spells of possession, but did just that with a solid display as Town made it 14 clean sheets this term and two in their last three outings.

Asked about the defender’s efforts, Edwards said: “He’s been a really consistent performer hasn’t he.

"He’s another one playing through some pain today, full credit to him for getting through the whole game, I thought he was absolutely brilliant.

“We’ve got a number of players who can do that (bring the ball out), Burkey (Reece Burke) can do the same, Amari’i (Bell), Pottsy (Dan Potts) can do the same thing.

“We encourage those outside centre backs to try and take the space when they can and step in.

"What that can do is provoke the opposition and you might be able to play through them or play round them and get some attacks going.

"Normally what you'll see is them play it and then hopefully follow and try to overload areas.

"You see the first goal we got against Millwall in midweek, Amari’i was the one crossing from pretty much inside the box, so we try to encourage the players to do that and be brave.

"But he’s naturally very talented and silky with the ball, Gabe, and we want to encourage him to keep being brave and doing those things.”