The manager brought Sonny Bradley in for his first start in more than five months, along with Cauley Woodrow for just his fourth of the campaign, and was rewarded with the captain playing a huge part in a 19th clean sheet and a third goal of the season from the latter.

“I’m really pleased with the lads and I’ve just said that in there now, it's going to take everybody,” said Edwards. “I can’t guarantee everyone’s going to get the minutes, but they’re a big part of it, the whole squad, whether that’s in training, or whether they get on for a minute, whether they get on for 20, or whether they play 95 minutes.

“We’re going to need everybody to be successful, so I’m really pleased today, because there were a couple of changes, one or two playing out of position, or in different positions, but they played really, really well.

“Full credit to Sonny, I thought he was outstanding, coming in after such a long time out. We felt Sonny would be able to do deal with Hugill well and then Locks with Ogbene a little bit more as well, so that was the thinking behind it.

“Cauley came in as well, who hasn’t started as much as he would like, and thought he was terrific as well.”

On the match itself, with the Hatters dominating possession in a first half that ended with an opening goal for Carlton Morris with 45 minutes on the clock, Edwards couldn’t hide his delight.

“We certainly deserved it,” he added. “The back end of the first half I thought we were outstanding, thought we had 20-25 minutes of real control, dominated the game and probed really well.

“We got to the final third well, just lacked that little bit of a spark, but it was coming.

“We had Carlton’s header just before and there were one or two moments, and then Carlton’s magic got us that first goal to go in at half time and go ok, loads of good stuff going on, but that’s how we’re going to kick on.

“It was a fantastic bit of skill from Cody in the second half to get the penalty, to go 2-0 up and then onus is not on us to go chasing the game and when we’re in that stage and I know they then make some changes and change their shape, I want our lads to believe in themselves even more.

“They showed in the first half how good they can be in keeping the ball, and we can be good and see the game out with a little bit more control if you like, but it’s hard when they throw the kitchen sink at you there’s a lot of giants on the pitch.”

He added: “There were a couple of yellow cards knocking about, one or two that were warranted and maybe one or two that weren’t, but overall, I’m delighted with that group in there.

“They fight so hard for each other, fight so hard for the club, for the badge, for the fans – and that’s why they're so happy going home today as well.”