Gabriel Osho scored to help Luton into the play-off final last night and then revealed that his mother’s care and home cooking helped him return early from a potentially season-ending injury.
The defender damaged his knee after the stalemate with Millwall at the start of April and the original prognosis was a six to eight-week lay-off.
That would have ruled him out of the play-offs, but cryotherapy, injections and all the sports science and physiotherapy that the Hatters could chuck at Osho helped to cut his recovery down to three weeks.
But asked what helped to reduce his injury time, Osho said: “My mum. The first week after the injury I had to go back to hers and recover and she really helped. Then it was down to the physios and sports scientists.
“We knew it would be tough and at times it would hurt during the rehab, but there was no risk, going forwards, so we just knew that we’d push it.
“The sooner I was out there, there sooner I’d feel a bit better because it was one of those that, if you stay in and nurse it a bit too long, then it’s just going to feel a bit bad. We just had to get me outside and that’s what we did.”
Asked about the secret to his mother’s care during his rehab, Osho said: “Mum’s home cooking. She slaps me on the ice machine when I can’t be bothered to do it. She was amazing, really supportive, all my family, to be honest.
“We have a nutritionist and we got every single thing that they said I should be eating. She went to the shops and bought every single thing, and made me every single thing on the list. I was having about 5 meals a day.
“Nothing tasted nice but it was all just getting the nutrients on board, getting everything I need to recover quicker.
“All the anti-inflammatory stuff, which is boring really, but she made sure I got it all on board and I’m thankful for her.”
The initial road to recovery has been a big boost to Luton, who saw Osho return for a cameo in the final regular season game against Hull. Then the defender was thrust into the play-off picture at Sunderland, where Luton lost 2-1.
That left Luton needing to win the second leg last night at Kenilworth Road. Osho scored early to draw the scores level on aggregate before his centre-back partner Tom Lockyer headed the Hatters into a two-goal lead by half time, and a 3-2 aggregate scoreline, which is how it stayed, sending Town to Wembley.
The former Reading man said: “To score today and for us to get to Wembley is amazing. It hasn’t really sunk in yet. I’m sure it will in the next couple of days but it’s brilliant.”
It’s a remarkable tale, especially for a player that thought he may miss out on the play-offs.
“There was a decision to make. Try and keep playing through it or take those three weeks and try and recover,” Osho said.
“It was tight. Initially, it was meant to be six to eight weeks, but we got it down to three and thanks to god I feel fine.
“Now we’ve got a ten-day break before the next game and I’m going to do all I can to make sure we’re on the winning team.”
