Captain Cuthbert hailed after late, late call-up

The centre half had been named on the bench for Town’s opening League Two clash of the season, but an injury to Alan Sheehan seconds before kick-off saw Cuthbert have to dash on for the coin toss and the proceed to turn in a wonderful defensive display, helping his side keep a richly deserved clean sheet.

The Luton chief said: “We had a few setbacks, with Alan Sheehan pulling up just before kick off with a tweak in calf so we had to make a late change, and Scott Cuthbert came in and was outstanding.

“It was a real captain’s performance, and I’m buzzing for him as he hasn’t played much in pre-season due to a little bit of injury.

“He was wonderful, he had to put in a proper, proper performance, headed everything, looked fit, looked strong and led by example.

“It would be wrong to single him out, it’s just obviously the circumstances were different, but his preparation was spot on.

“As a team we were very good, the subs who came on, I include Scotty in that because of his late call, I thought they were excellent.”

On the injury to Sheehan, who is now a doubt for Wednesday night’s EFL Cup tie with Aston Villa, Jones continued: “He was struggling a little bit but we took a risk because he’s important to us in what we do and how we play, but he just tweaked it just before kick off and we had to make a late change.

“The referee was excellent, because we knew if we made a change beforehand it wouldn’t affect three substitutions, and I thought as a back four we were excellent, as a midfield we were excellent.

“We weren’t as fluent as we normally are, and we would have liked a bit more possession and a bit more control of the game.

“But we came away from home and it was a wonderful away performance, so I can’t take anything away from them.”