Izzy Brown scored after 30 seconds in a 2-0 behind-closed-doors friendly against Beijing Renhe as Danny Hylton and Dan Potts also made important steps towards a Luton return.
The Chelsea loan ace, who has been out with a hamstring injury since early December but is expected to return sooner than the original February date, played for 25 minutes against the Chinese League One outfit, with Lloyd Jones scoring the other goal.
Potts played an hour and striker Hylton completed the first half in what was his first run out on a full pitch since a serious knee injury, which has kept him out for ten months.
Hatters boss Graeme Jones said: “Danny played 45 minutes so I’m delighted. No reaction. Izzy played 25 minutes and no reaction, so that was their first steps back on a full pitch, but it was lovely to see.
“Izzy Brown scored after 30 seconds, so that’s the kind of impact you want. They’re still recovering. It was two days ago now, so we’ll see how they are.”
While Brown and Potts had been regular starters in the Championship this season, Hylton has never played in the second tier, so Jones issued a word of caution about his return to match action.
“Danny put in a massive shift in 45 minutes,” said the manager, adding: “He covered 7K. It’s huge and I’ve not seen them stats this season.
“He did some good things, I can see him now, squaring a ball to Elliot Lee for an opportunity, but the timing, at times, is what you miss.
“It’s not going to come back overnight, but the positive are that I haven’t had him for the eight months since I took the job. It was nice to see your centre forward on the pitch.
“Somebody who’s had a big impact at this club and somebody who’s had no reaction to his minutes, which is the most important thing.”
Asked if he expects Hylton to feature for the first-team this term, Jones said: “I don’t know, is the truth. I need to assess him as a player, which I liked the other day and continually to assess his fitness and how quickly he gets his timing back and then what we’re going to do with him from there.”
In the short-term, however, the challenge now is to get the 30-year-old some more minutes under his belt, but with no reserve team, the options are limited.
“That’s the problem really,” said Jones, adding: “Obviously, we’ve got (Nottingham) Forest on Sunday and we have to gauge that. Then after that we’ve got nine days until Derby.
“Maybe I’ll have to try to arrange another friendly somewhere in-between to give them some match minutes. It might be in-house, but there are lot of lads in the first team that have played a lot of football this year and you don’t want to saturate them, because in two or three weeks’ time you’re going to have another period coming up, with lots of games.
“It’s just pitching it correctly, really, because nothing replaces minutes on the pitch, so we’ll have to do everything we can to get minutes for them two (Hylton and Brown) and Martin Cranie.”
Asked whether a loan move may be an option for Hylton, Jones said: “I don’t think there will be any benefit for us. We need to get him fit here, really, and contribute between now and the end of the season. We’ll see what happens.”
