Edwards didn’t see incident that could have earned Sunderland forward Gelhardt a red card in play-off clash

Luton boss Rob Edwards declared he hadn’t seen the incident that might have earned Sunderland forward Joe Gelhardt an early red card during his side’s 2-1 defeat at the Stadium of Light in their play-off first leg clash yesterday.

With under two minutes on the clock, Lockyer was knocked to the floor in an off the ball incident with the on-loan Leeds United forward, needing treatment for what he clearly thought was an elbow from his opponent.

Replays afterwards showed that Gelhardt had indeed swung an arm in frustration which connected with the back of the Welsh international’s head, and had there been VAR in use at the stadium, as there is in the final at Wembley, it could have led to an early bath.

When asked about it though, Edwards said: “I haven’t seen it, I’ve got to be honest.

“Locks wasn’t happy, but I haven’t seen it back.”

Lockyer was further in the wars after the break as it looked like he was going to have to go off midway through the second 45, requiring the physios again for what looked like a leg injury.

However, with Reece Burke readying himself on the sidelines, the centre half was able to retake his place on the pitch and complete the 90 minutes in the heart of Town’s back three.

On whether he’ll be okay to start in the second leg on Tuesday night, Edwards added: “That’s what he does, Carlton the same, so there’s one or two bumps and bruises like they had.

“We’ve got to recover, all the focus now for the lads and the staff is on recovery.

“The coaching team will review the game and try to make sure we make the right decisions on Tuesday night.

“It’s too early to tell now (team selection), we’ll look at it, we’ll review the game and see where we’re at.

“We’ll pick a team we think can win the game.”