Centre half duo available for Town but young defender suffers injury setback

Luton boss Matt Bloomfield confirmed that both Teden Mengi and Mads Andersen are back in training and available for selection once more, although young full back Reuell Walters has suffered a setback in his bid to return to first team action.

With Mengi staying in Bedfordshire during a summer transfer window in which many thought he might leave, the England U21 international has now successfully battled back from an ankle injury that he suffered during Town’s pre-season friendly clash against National League side Southend United. Andersen, whose career with Town has been blighted by unavailability, began Luton’s first three League One fixtures, before a hamstring issue saw him miss the last three league matches.

However, the pair are now both in contention to face Plymouth Argyle this weekend, although Mengi might need to build up his game time first, as Bloomfield said: “Ted is now back available, he’s training with the group. He hasn’t had any minutes at all since Southend, so it will just be that match fitness. We need to try and get him some minutes, maybe in an U21s game or arrange a game to make sure he can get some minutes.

"His ankle feels loads better, he’s trained for the last week or two, so he’s not far away. He’s back available for selection, but we know that he probably needs minutes as he’s not had loads in pre-season. He had a bit of a back spasm, so missed some time in Slovenia, then had his ankle injury at Southend. It’s a real shame really, but he’s back in amongst it and we just need to get him ready to go. Mads is fine, Mads is good too.”

There wasn’t such good news for Walters though, the ex-Arsenal youngster having started the first two matches before going off at half time against Peterborough with a groin issue. He had hoped to be back in Bloomfield’s thinking for this weekend, but that won’t be the case, as the Town manager said: “Reuell unfortunately has had a bit of setback so he’s going to be a little while still. It’s just a recurrence of his groin, which is really disappointing for him and for us. He was back out on the grass and unfortunately he just suffered a bit of a setback so he’s not going to be ready for a little while. It’s going to be not the next couple of weeks, it’s going to be a few more.”

With Walters comeback now delayed, it could well be that the 20-year-old returns at the same time as a host of other Luton players who have been missing with their various ailments do as well, as Bloomfield added: “There’s a number of those boys that look like they’ll be available around the same time. Hakeem (Odoffin) is not imminent, but he’s working hard, he’s working individually on the grass so he’s progressing. It’s a slow recovery for him because of the procedure he had in the summer, but he’s progressing which is great for him and for us when he comes back.

"Izzy Jones is a few weeks away yet but working hard, Browny’s (Jacob Brown) been out on the grass a little bit, but that’s a slow one for him and Ali Al-Hamadi, they all seem to be on a fairly similar timeline in terms of returning. It’s around the same time, give a week or two, so once you get those boys back we’ll have real strength in depth. It was a real consideration for us during the summer.

"We knew a few of them were going to be a while so we had to consider that as we wanted to have enough depth to get through the point of when they’re coming back, not just be waiting for that. The strength in depth and the competition for places is fierce at the moment and that in my experience heightens performance levels as everyone is fighting for a position. The group is starting to come back to full fitness and we’re really pleased with the strength we’re starting to get.”