Martin Cranie will not be fit for tomorrow’s Championship trip to Brentford, while Danny Hylton could be sent on loan to help him recover his match fitness, like Glen Rea.
Cranie has been out with a hamstring niggle and hasn’t featured since the 3-0 defeat at Reading before the international break. And while he will miss the Griffin Park clash, he could be fit for consideration the following week.
“Martin Cranie hasn’t made it, so that’s a disappointment,” said Luton boss Graeme Jones today, adding: “We’ve had to be a little bit cautious with him, so he should be fit for the Wigan game next week. Apart from him, we’re at full strength.”
Town’s two long-term injured players Hylton and Rea are now back training after knee problems, but at different stages of their recovery.
The midfielder has been out on loan with Woking and travel to face Boreham Wood tomorrow in the National League, which will be his last game of a month’s loan deal, while the striker not expected back before Christmas.
Asked if Hylton will need a similar loan move before he would be ready for first-team action again, Jones said: “You would imagine so. I mean, Danny’s been out a long time.
“Danny’s a fit boy, Glen’s a fit boy as well, I just don’t think anything replaces being out on the pitch for 90 minutes and the amount of demands that are there from a physical, technical and tactical point of view.
“I can show you a clip from the Leeds game of Matty Pearson and James Bree, in one wave of attack where we’ve made six or seven decisions of when to get round and cover, when to pass on, when to block, when to squeeze up. On their rotation, who’s marking who, so that’s the type of thing that you lose when you’ve been injured.
“Certainly, nowadays, with the physios and sports scientists we’ve got, there’s a good level of base fitness.
“That will have been retained, it’s just that match fitness that you can’t replicate. We haven’t got a reserve side.
“I don’t know, we’ll have to see how Danny is and we’ll have a chat with him.”
Asked about whether Rea will soon be in Jones’ thoughts for first-team duties, the manager said: “Yeah, definitely back into my thoughts.
“Glen’s got his last game tomorrow and then I’m going to have a chat with him on Monday or Tuesday next week and we’ll assess where we are and take it from there.”
