After being released by the Bees in May, Baptiste moved to Bedfordshire on a free transfer. He started Luton’s first four Championship league games and showed signs of being the kind of player Brentford paid seven figures to sign, playing in over 50 top flight games before he suffered a hamstring injury after the team’s 2-1 loss to OPR.

He was sidelined for a month before making a strong comeback as a late substitute in the 2-0 loss to Sheffield United. However, he missed the following three games because of another issue he picked up during practice. With Town under 1-0 and Josh Maja having put the visitors ahead, Baptiste made his 100th league appearance since going pro in 2017 by replacing Victor Moses at halftime in Friday night’s 1-1 draw with the Baggies.

Due in large part to the Grenada international’s impressive performance in the middle of the pitch, the Hatters were able to regain the lead. Luton had to win since he nearly created a winner when Daiki Hashioka headed his dangerous corner against the post. Bringing him on when he did and attempting to ensure that he can play a significant role in Town’s season going forward, Edwards said of Baptiste, who has only made 38 league starts so far: “I made that call, I wanted to get Shandon on as he’s a really talented footballer, really good, and the big challenge for all of us is keeping him fit and available all the time.”

“We were aware of that when we hired him since he is incredibly talented. I have admired and liked him for a very long time. I wanted to get him on the pitch as soon as possible because of this. It was only an emotion. Before the game, we had discussed it in terms of a hypothetical situation, but at halftime, I thought it was appropriate. We have to take that chance since we are behind 1-0. He provides us with a tonne of quality, and I was quite happy with his influence.