Lawrence has been in impressive form for Town
Hatters skipper Kal Naismith isn’t surprised at all to see the way in which Luton’s on-loan Manchester City winger Emilio Lawrence is flourishing since his move to Kenilworth Road.
The 20-year-old joined Town back in January, but after despite starting four games in a row in what his first ever taste of senior football, then had a spell out of the side as it looked like he was struggling to adapt to the level in front of him. Having bided his time, and put in extra work at the Brache to get himself up to speed, Lawrence was brought back into the team for the 1-1 draw at Port Vale, gaining a maiden assist when setting up Nahki Wells to open the scoring.
From that moment on, he has remained in the starting XI for the last 13 consecutive matches, scoring his first senior goal in the 1-1 draw with Stockport County, also on target against the same opposition at Wembley when Luton won the Vertu Trophy recently. With Naismith often playing just behind the Scotland U21 international, the experienced defender has been incredibly impressed with his impact, and also his desire to improve as well, saying: “He's been amazing, just having him there in front of me, he always listens, he's way far ahead of any kid his age.
Emilio Lawrence on the ball for the Hatters - pic: Andy Fitzsimonsplaceholder image
Emilio Lawrence on the ball for the Hatters - pic: Andy Fitzsimons
"Coming in and playing at this level, he’s still learning, but what I love about him is he knows he's still learning. You get kids that play in front of you and every time you speak to them and give them instructions, they pretend to listen to you, but he's always listening and always asking me why I'm telling him to do certain things or go in certain areas. He’s just always willing to learn so I'm not surprised at him kicking on the way he has.
"He came in, started a few games, but I’ve never seen him sulk or moan, it was just come in, work hard and players that do that get rewards. He’s been a credit to himself and he’s been different class. I played that position as well and you can see his on the ball stuff is frightening. He's got so much ability, he's so jinky, so fast, you saw that with his goal (in the league against Stockport), he's got a great right foot strike too, he can do it all.
"It's just positionally when we're off the ball, he can do stuff to help his midfielders, do stuff to help us at the back. He's not one of those wingers who says ‘no, no, you defend,’ it's just where he needs to be positionally, but he’s always, always listening and he's absolutely brilliant to have there in front of you.”
Lawrence added the sixth assist of his spell with the Hatters on Saturday when picking out Kasey Palmer to stab home from close range during the 2-2 draw against Mansfield. Although he had a quieter impact in midweek in the 2-0 victory over Rotherham United, the attacker was still able to test home keeper Ted Cann with a fierce drive in the second period, as speaking at the One Stadium having claimed a point at the Stags, boss Jack Wilshere stated: “I want him to do it (take his man on) more consistently as that’s a belief thing as well.
"In the first half he threatened to do it a little bit, doesn’t quite execute the cross, but once he realises that he’s got the beating of his man then he’s got quality and it’s hard to defend against as if you show him too much outside, he’s going to come inside. I’m happy for him, he’s got to keep going, keep developing. I thought he could have probably hit the target a few times when he does come inside, we need to work on that again, but a good performance in the second half.”
The efforts of the youngster have seen Cohen Bramall, who looked like he was going to be a first team regular under Wilshere when he first took over, before an ankle injury against Blackpool in January kept him out for six weeks, is now struggling to even get a place on the bench, involved in just one of the last eight League One squads.
On what the former Arsenal youngster can do to win his place back, the Town boss added: “Emilio has really grown and developed, so Emilio is keeping Cohen out of the team at the minute. When I think about the squad, I have to think about getting the balance of the squad that probably in that position with Gideon (Kodua) being on the bench, I need to think of a player who can play in two positions and I think Gideon is that player, who can play on the left, he can also play in the middle and can also play as a wingback at times, which we know isn’t his best position.
"For Cohen he’ll get his chance when he gets back in the squad or in the team and he needs to deliver assists, needs to deliver goals, which he has done this season at the start of the season. It’s probably unfortunate the timing of his injury, but at the minute, Emilio has got the shirt and keeps delivering. Cohen needs to be patient, but also keep working hard as there’s no player that is that far away from the team.”
Meanwhile, experienced goalkeeper James Shea added: “Fair play to him, his first couple of games were really tough and then he got left out of the squad for a little bit. It just shows what the boy is all about. He's come back, he's grown into that position now on the left side and he's
been absolutely unbelievable.”
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