No complaints from Luton chief as he labels midfielder’s 36-second red card as a ‘wrong decision’

Walsh dismissed just moments after coming on in midweek clash

Luton boss Rob Edwards labelled midfielder Liam Walsh’s 36-second red card against Oxford United last night as a ‘wrong decision’ from the midfielder, although did praise his side’s character for their reaction to the dismissal, as they picked up a point in their 2-2 draw at Kenilworth Road.

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With 76 minutes on the clock, Walsh, who only joined the club recently on a free transfer having left Swansea City in the summer, was introduced along with Cauley Woodrow, in a bid to try and wrest the initiative back into the Hatters’ favour, as it appeared only a matter of time before the visitors scored again, having already hit back from 2-0 down to level the scores.

However, after Thomas Kaminski sent a goal-kick forward, with the ball loose in midfield, the ex-Everton youngster unwisely lunged into a rash and foolish two-footed tackle on Siriki Dembélé, giving referee James Bell little choice but to send him off, for what has to be the quickest red ever received by a Luton player in the club’s history.

Asked whether he had discussed the incident with Walsh, who saw red for the second time in his career, the first coming when at Yeovil Town in March 2016, given his marching orders just 16 minutes into a 3-0 Conference defeat at Cambridge United, Edwards said: “Not at the moment, I don’t want to, no. I think it’s a red. Walshy’s an experienced lad, it was just the wrong decision at that moment. He’s 26, 27, people are human beings, they make mistakes at times.”

Edwards also didn’t want to blame the weather for the incident either, with the Kenilworth Road pitch having plenty of surface water due to a deluge of rain in the build-up and during the contest too, continuing: “No, not with that, no. They were difficult conditions to play and remain on your feet, but it was the same for both teams, that had nothing to do with it.”

Once they were down to 10, Luton then somehow looked the better side though as it was they who carried the better threat in the closing stages, almost snatching a winner when Teden Mengi’s header was palmed away by keeper Jamie Cumming before Elijah Adebayo could pounce at the far post. Asked why he felt that was the case, Edwards added: “There’s no option other than to be diligent and be compact and do the work then.

“We made the point in the dressing room at the end, our press is very good, we were very quick to run that way (forward) and press and win the ball back, but we’ve got to make sure we do it that way (sideways) and that way (backwards). There’s no hiding place when you’re down to 10 men, you have to do it and maybe there was a little bit of a lack of running back or across when we’d either lost the ball or out of possession, which can’t be the case.

“We’re down to 10, you get exposed too easily if you don’t do the work. I want to credit Reuell (Walters), I thought he did really well when he came on, Cauley as well, did really well in a different position as we had to make the change and he’s playing centre midfield, down to 10 men. So I was really pleased with a couple of those lads when they came on, they showed some real heart there and fought really well.

“We were certainly more organised and couldn’t jump out and press as much as we would normally want to do, but we actually looked more threatening and conceded less chances at the other end as well. So I was pleased with the way we finished, the spirit the lads showed, they didn’t cave in, they didn’t go under.

“It was a difficult night for us after being 2-0 up and then the feeling around the place, the atmosphere was tough, for them to come through that was a real positive then. The way we finished, that hard work, organisation, togetherness they showed and then some quality to actually remain a threat and retain a threat in the game, we’ll have to take some of that.”