Luton Town boss Matt Bloomfield has confirmed that midfielder Liam Walsh faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after suffering a freak training-ground injury and undergoing surgery.
The midfielder was an unused substitute in Saturday’s 3-2 defeat to ten-man Plymouth, and will not be available for up to two months after an operation on his shoulder.
“Unfortunately, [he] fell on his elbow in training, really innocuous, fell on his elbow and has just hurt his shoulder, so he’s gone in for an operation today, this afternoon,” Bloomfield revealed ahead of Saturday’s League One trip to Lincoln City.
“He’ll be out for six to eight weeks to return to training, so he’ll probably be out the team for a couple of months which is a real blow for him and for us.”
Walsh’s absence adds to a frustrating injury list but there was some better news on defender Teden Mengi, who is edging towards a first-team return.
“Ted played 45 minutes yesterday [in an] under-21 game, which was great for Ted,” said Bloomfield. “He’s getting closer. He’s been training well for a couple of weeks now.
“He’s a big player for us. And unfortunately for us, he’s been robbed of lots of games through injury in the period of time that I’ve been here, but he’s back training with the group and played 45 minutes yesterday.”
Bloomfield wouldn’t be drawn on whether Mengi will feature in the squad at Sincil Bank in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off, but stressed he will not rush players back from injury.
“If players are ready, they’re ready, if they’re not, they’re not,” he said, adding: ” y”You have to make decisions off the best interests of the players.”
There are further glimmers of hope elsewhere in the squad as Isaiah Jones, Hakeem Odoffin and Jacob Brown are all “back on the grass”, while transfer deadline day striker signing Ali Al-Hamadi is “not back out on the grass yet, but working hard in the gym,” Bloomfield reported. Reuell Walters also remains sidelined.
The Hatters head to Sincil Bank after a 3-2 home defeat to Plymouth that prompted some boos from supporters.
Bloomfield accepted the frustration, saying: “I understand our supporters’ disappointment with the result, absolutely. When you play against 10 men, like we did for a large proportion of the game, the expectation is that you win and the expectation on ourselves was that we should have won the game. And ultimately we didn’t, so everyone was disappointed about that.”
Despite the setback, the manager remains upbeat about Luton’s form and attacking threat.
“Before Saturday, we were two points a game, which is promotion form on the evidence of the last five seasons,” he said. “We’re creating opportunities. I’d be a lot more worried if we weren’t creating any.”
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