Rob Edwards: ‘It was a case of doing it for Locks’

Luton Town boss Rob Edwards dedicated the Hatters’ promotion to skipper Tom Lockyer.

The defender, who withdrew early in the first half after collapsing on the pitch, was his side’s motivation to go on and seal promotion in the Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Final, according to Edwards.

‘Doing it for Locks’ 

‘I didn’t know what had happened at the time and I still don’t fully know. I just thought that I could see him on the floor not really moving so I was concerned.He collapsed but I’ve got no more detail that that at the moment. We’ll be able to say more as and when I know more. He’s still in the hospital having checks and he’s got good people looking after him.

“I needed to get the players away and tried to refocus them. They said that he’s speaking and everything else and we were able to calm everyone down. It was a case of focussing and doing it for Locks. That was the message. I know it was really tough. In that moment, I didn’t know what to think.

“I was thinking, ‘our captain has had to go off after four or five minutes and maybe it’s not going to be our day. After losing our best player, to recover from that, seeing how Locks went off, I thought the lads showed a lot of mental strength and resilience and character to perform like that.”

“I thought things don’t get much better”

“To win a league title with an amazing group of people at Forest Green was brilliant and I thought things don’t get much better than that but maybe they do.

“We had the opportunity at Watford to go to a huge Club that had just been in the Premier League themselves and unfortunately, it didn’t work out. Without that, I wouldn’t be sitting here now. The one thing I will say is that the common denominator at Forest Green and Luton is really good people with a good plan and top players.”

“It’s a shame someone had to lose”

“What Mark Robins has done with that Football Club is incredible and I couldn’t have done what he’s done where he’s got the Club from League Two to that close to the Premier League. He’s built them right back up with his players and staff.

“Everyone deserved a lot of credit and I’d have been saying that if we lost as well. It’s a shame someone had to lose today with both Clubs’ journeys. I’m delighted that we won but I do feel for them.”

“It doesn’t happen often”

I’ve just said it to some of the young lads like Joe Johnson who is 17 and he’s part of the squad and made a couple of appearances at the back end of the season. I said, ‘Joe, enjoy this because it doesn’t happen often.’

“I’m really lucky to have been a part of four promotions now and I‘ve been in football for 24 years professionally, so it doesn’t happen loads. We’ll certainly enjoy it together tonight.”

“Organised and prepared”

We had a lot of practice and we were probably able to do more than Coventry because we’ve known for three weeks longer than them at least that we were going to be in the Play-Offs.

“A lot of research went into that – not just taking the penalties but where we all needed to be, different stations, the breaths when you put the ball down and we knew the order as soon as the final whistle went even with the changes that we’d made. We felt very organised and prepared for that moment.”