Luton’s injury concerns have eased significantly as they will have five key stars available for tomorrow’s Championship trip to Reading, with one more on the way back, though defender Reece Burke has broken down again with another injury.
A victory in Berkshire, it will confirm their place in the play-offs with four games to spare, so the positive news for Town’s key attackers will ease fears of another post-season where injuries have such a devastating effect.
Elijah Adebayo and Alfie Doughty missed out on the weekend’s 2-0 win at Rotherham United and though Carlton Morris and Cauley Woodrow scored the goals, neither forward finished the match on the pitch.
But all four have trained today and there is further positive news because midfield playmaker Jordan Clark joined them out on the grass.
Manager Rob Edwards said: “Eli trained today, so he’s in the mix which is really good news for us, Carlton the same as well, so both of those two available and Cauley who came off with a knock, trained, so we’re in good shape at the top end of the pitch.”
On Clark, the Hatters boss said: “He’s full training now. He’s ready and available, so that’s really good news for us.”
However, Burke, who returned for the last two games after a month out, will face further time on the treatment table, though it is only expected to be a few weeks.
“We’re going to be missing Burkey for a little bit, unfortunately,” said Edwards, adding: “He’s someone that just felt a little twinge in his groin, so we’ll have to see how he is.
“We’re not expecting him to be too long. But, yeah, he’s frustrated. He’s played so well for us, and been such an important player for us. Just getting that run together, at the moment, has proved a bit difficult.
“But he’ll be fine. I’m not going to put a timescale on it at the moment, but he’ll be someone that will probably be missing for tomorrow.”
It’s been an injury-hit season for the centre back and Edwards said: “He’ll be really disappointed. There’s no one that works harder than Reece Burke, and I genuinely mean that. He’s a fantastic professional and a top, top player as well.
“I don’t anticipate him being out too long, so let’s be really positive about it as well, and think positive about it, because at this stage of the season, we want everyone. We want our best players available. Him, Gabe (Osho) and Pottsy (Dan Potts) are really key for us, so hopefully we can get them round quick.”
But there is further positive news about Fred Onyedinma, who won’t be available for the Reading clash but is expected to return for the end of season run-in.
Edwards said: “Fred’s training part sessions with us. He’ll hopefully be back within the next week or so, so that’s really good news for us.
“We’ve had little tweaks and knocks. Things that have not been long term, but we’re just having to manage bodies. I think at this stage of the season, a lot of people are the same, where the lads are just playing on the edge because there have been so many games.
“And because we are at it, and we have to be, and we work really hard, the players always push themselves to the edge and sometimes just slightly breaking.
“We’ve got to be careful. Sometimes you can’t avoid that in a game though. You can’t tell someone to go easy in a game. They’re running through brick walls for each other. We’ve got to keep that going but understand that sometimes one or two of them just go over that edge.
“The good thing for us, the positive, is that no one is really long-term. I know there’s a lot of big games coming up and we should be in a really good place in a few weeks’ time.”
