Luton boss Rob Edwards finally has a welcome selection headache for the visit of Cardiff tomorrow night, as three key players came through unscathed after their returns from injury.
The Hatters will also have Alfie Doughty and Tom Holmes available again after they served suspensions for the 1-1 draw with West Brom on Friday night.
The latter’s ban for getting sent off at Coventry, meant Town took risks over the fitness of centre halves Teden Mengi and Amari’i Bell, as both played the full game against the Baggies, while Shandon Baptiste made only his second appearance in two months, impressing in a second half showing.
And from potentially having just one centre back available – Mark McGuinness – for their last Championship game, Luton now have the rare problem of picking a possible three from four fit central defenders, as well as options in the midfield.
“The three lads have got through it all fine, which is good, and then we’ve got the two back from suspension,” Edwards said.
“Holmes, he’s OK, but had a bit of a tight calf after the game, he played pretty much a full game tonight against Cov. So, a little bit of a tight calf and we’ve been managing that a little bit, but he’s OK.
“So, we’ve got some decisions to make, which is good.”
After the draw with West Brom on Friday, the manager said of Bell and Mengi: “The first thing I did when we went in back in the dressing room afterwards to thank those two, and the medical team, but they’ve pushed hard.
“And to play 94 minutes, there’s five minutes of added time in the first half as well. So close to 100 minutes, after being out for a while, it’s a big ask. But we needed them, so I thanked them for doing that for us for that long.”
The visit of in-form Cardiff is the second match of three in a week for the Hatters and the second at home on the bounce, so it’s a relief to finally have choices to make in key areas.
Edwards said: “It helps, especially going into a period where we can have a couple of games in quick succession, so it’s important.
“We’ve still got a couple out, Mads (Andersen) Burkey (Reece Burke) as well. They’re going to be back soon, which is great, but we’ll still have to ask quite a bit of a few of them in this next week.
“So, look, we’ll see how they are and we’ll try and make the right decisions, but, of course, now they’re back we want them to stay back. Of course we do.”
Speaking on Friday, the manager also explained how the Hatters would manage players coming back from injuries, with the old cliche about wrapping them up in cotton wool, not the advice that should be followed.
“If you do that then you end up risking them when they go back into a game,” the manager said, adding: “You’ve just got to try and get the balance right between rest, but then they’ve got to train because they can’t just do nothing and then play because you spiked the load and you become an injury risk the other way as well.
“So you’ve just got to try and get the balance right between some recovery. They’ll need some TLC, wrap them up a bit, but also train as well.
“We have to try and train the way we play. That doesn’t mean we do that every day, obviously, but there’s certain days where you’ve got to try and make sure you hit certain markers. Otherwise when you go into a game, playing the way we do, and we need you to sprint and press and then run back, you have to be able to do it. The demands of the game will, will say that. So it’s balance now.”
And at the sharp end of the pitch, having Doughty back is another boost for Town, as the wing back leads the division for chances created with 40 already this term.
Edwards said: “It’s not just not just the set pieces. They’re important, but he’s been a real consistent performer for us for so long now.
He gives us real good quality. He gives a threat down the left hand side or the right, if we play him there. He understands how we play. There can’t be many since we’ve been in who have played more than Alfie.”
