Hatters boss Rob Edwards hailed the manner in which striker Carlton Morris kept his nerve to convert the crucial penalty and draw Luton level with Sheffield Wednesday during their 2-1 victory over the Owls on Saturday.
The forward had come off the bench on the hour mark as part of a triple substitution with Tom Krauß and Zack Nelson, Town looking to hit back from going behind to Barry Bannan’s impressive volley early in the second period. With the Hatters still struggling to get going, Morris hadn’t had many attempts to restore parity before Mark McGuinness’s close range header was handled by Owls defender Di’Shon Bernard on 74 minutes, who received a red card from referee Gavin Ward.
With Bernard taking an age to leave the field, checking his shinpads, studs, anything he could think of, and Ward, who had a shocking game, making zero efforts to hurry up the player, then it wasn’t until the 77th minute that Morris was actually able to step up from 12 yards in front of the Kenny End. Step up he did though, sending England U21s keeper James Beadle the wrong way to score his first goal of the season and seventh successive spotkick for the Hatters, eight if you included the play-off final, and make it 1-1.
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Discussing the wait, Edwards said: “Oh god, it was crazy wasn’t it. A lot of time. Carlton had a lot of pressure there on that moment and dealt with that as he always does, really well. I think big players enjoy that, they relish it and you see the best of them. He’s taken penalties on the biggest stage for us anyway, at Wembley, he’s always stepped up and there was a good number in the Premier League last year as well. If you want anyone on it, he’s the man.”
Morris’s impact didn’t end there either, as with two minutes to go, Luton having brought on Victor Moses and Joe Taylor by then, the pair combined for Alfie Doughty whose cross was was swatted away by Beadle, falling at the feet of Jordan Clark. With his attempt going back into a crowd of players, centre half Mark McGuinness somehow threw himself into the air almost horizontally to deflect the ball to Morris, who was able to tap into the empty net and make it 2-1 with what turned out to a much-needed late winner.
Edwards continued: “Just looking back at it, if you pause it at the right moment, Mark McGuinness is in one strange position at one stage. Amazing, the strangest assist I think I’ve ever seen, but Carlton was in the right place at the right time. He finished it well. It was just the touch, it dropped to him really nicely and it was positive wasn’t it.
“There was no thought process, he just did it, it was in the moment. I suppose for a striker, that’s what they want. The penalty he had to really think about there, was so much time to stand over it and be thinking, that must be really difficult. The second one, the winner, was just him, instant, in the moment.”
Edwards hopes the goal will act as a weight off Morris’s shoulders, as after reaching double figures in the Premier League last term, and scoring 20 in the Championship when Luton won promotion the year before, he hadn’t been able to get off the mark this term in the opening four games, losing his place to Elijah Adebayo, starting the last two games on the bench.
He said: “They want goals, they don’t just want to play well, press hard, hold it up and link it, they want to score goals. So it’s a big relief for him and I suppose for everyone as well, we’ve got one of our main men up and running. Carlton was amongst the goals again which will be a big relief for him, but he’s earned that as his reaction has been great. He’s worked really, really hard this week and I just thought his intensity, not just what he did, in terms of scoring the goals, but his all-round game was very, very good, a really high level when he came on.”
Having praised the way in Morris has been after being left out at Millwall before Saturday’s match, asked if the decision had been made to give him a rest or to try and get a positive response from him, Edwards added: “A bit of both. I think again, really difficult decisions. I love Carlton, even more so after today, but sometimes we want certain people in certain positions and we make a decision.
“What he has done, as he’ll be disappointed, but he’s taken it brilliantly well. His reactions in training has made me really, really pleased. He hasn’t changed at all, he’s been brilliant around the group and I think you can see by the way he came on and affected the game that the motivation is there for him and that’s all we can ask. When you’ve got 25, 27 because of the young kids, in the squad at the moment, there’s now more people disappointed than happy. That’s the hardest part of my job, sometimes you make difficult decisions but then you want them to go and do that.”
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