After goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski was given a red card during the first half of Luton’s goalless draw with Portsmouth, manager Rob Edwards of Luton gave an explanation of the “tough” choice he had to make.
With ten minutes remaining before halftime, the Belgian international was issued two yellow cards in rapid succession, reducing the Hatters to ten men and forcing substitute James Shea into action. Edwards had to make a difficult decision over which outfield player to give up, and in the end, he decided on Morris, leaving strike partner Elijah Adebayo to clear a path alone up front.
The Town manager commented on the event and the reason he chose the Hatters captain to move aside, saying, “That’s football, that’s the excitement of it I suppose.” It wasn’t thrilling at the moment because you had to respond fast and release the captain, which was a tough choice, but we think it was the right one. Carlton also understands. Eli seems to be able to handle the burden better than most because of his ability to run, get back in, run, and hold up. Although Carlton is fantastic, that was the choice.
Morris wasn’t going to let his personal disappointment at losing the game affect the visitors’ chances of winning, as replacement goalkeeper Shea went on: “Carlton will be the first one to say it’s not a problem at all. Morris was chosen to lead the team while club captain Tom Lockyer continues to recover from his cardiac arrest.
“Carlton is the first to take a shot for the team, and he has to take one for them. It is what it is; Carlton came across as he had to choose someone. Carlton will undoubtedly rejoin the squad the following week; it’s just one of those things. He’s the first to support the boys, so he won’t pout or do anything about it. He’s been fantastic, encouraging the youngsters to keep going even after halftime.
Before his premature departure, the forward could have, and probably should have, opened his account for the season. Town produced three good opportunities in the first half in an entertaining match on the south coast. Following Will Norris’s denial of Adebayo, Jordan Clark’s brilliant assist slid Morris through cleanly, allowing him to take the ball in his stride and past the Pompey keeper’s trailing leg. Edwards was really excited by what he was seeing, and Norris then produced his best save of the match by deflecting Adebayo’s header into the post.
Even though Kaminski’s punishment forced a change in that, Town then admirably dug in to limit their hosts to very little clear-cut opportunities. With the exception of one Shea stop and a penalty shout, they were able to comfortably win their first clean sheet since January. Adebayo’s miss and second-half substitute Joe Taylor’s shot straight at Norris may have given Town the victory as well. The manager said, “We started so well, entertaining, we created a number of big chances.”
“You expect to take at least one of those opportunities, but we didn’t. Eli made one tremendous save, a header went over the bar, and Carlton had a one-on-one. We were moving quickly and looked pretty menacing. I was enjoying watching us until something happened and we had to change. Aside from the one altercation that ensued immediately after Sheasy entered, I felt that we were really at ease. We had to play differently when not in possession, but we also shown a really strong side, and in the end, I believe we generated the game’s best opportunities—Elie’s goal and Joe’s counterattack as well.
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