Fit-again Luton midfielder Berry thought he had suffered a serious injury against Hull

Town midfielder Luke Berry admitted he feared the worst when injuring his knee against Hull City earlier in the season.

The 29-year-old slid in for challenge early on during the 1-0 victory over the Tigers back on October 23, but came off worse from the block tackle and after treatment wasn’t able to continue.

Replaced on 22 minutes, manager Nathan Jones declared the former Cambridge player had opened up his medial ligament, with no length of time given for his recovery.

Berry, who suffered a horrific dislocated ankle and fractured fibula for the Hatters back in March 2018, keeping him out for over 18 months, thought he would be on the sidelines for another lengthy period, the injury also denting his momentum, scoring four goals in just eight appearances following a calf problem at the start of the campaign.

Fortunately though, less than three months later this time, he was back on the bench for Sunday's FA Cup third round clash against Harrogate, coming on with an hour gone, and showing he had lost none of his form, notching the final goal of a 4-0 triumph by placing Fred Onyedinma's cross into the roof of the net.

On the injury, Berry said: "At the time I thought I’d done it quite seriously, so I was a bit worried about that.

“Luckily it was a 10 to 12-weeker, so I was happy with that.

"At the same time with the momentum the boys were doing and I was doing, I thought I could get a good little run going.

"It’s one of those things in football, it’s frustrating but you’ve got to get on with it.”

Berry's absence was keenly felt by his team-mates too, especially with his now trademark well-timed runs into the penalty area, defender Kal Naismith saying: "We did miss him.

"We’ve got a lot of really good players at this club who can fill in and help.

"Everybody’s been performing well, we’ve been unlucky at times, but when Bez is injured he’ll always be a miss as he can just change games with that late run into the box and a goal."

Following an excellent 1-1 draw with Fulham on December 11, Town then had to wait 29 days until their next game, Sunday's cup triumph against their League Two opponents.

While supporters and players alike were left twiddling their thumbs with no football played over the Christmas period due to Covid outbreaks, skipper Sonny Bradley declaring himself 'very, very bored,' it came as something of an unexpected bonus for Berry who could get himself back to a required level of fitness during the enforced break without missing any more matches.

He added: “I’ve had a good two, three weeks of full training.

"I came back a bit earlier, and it’s unfortunate the games got called off, but it kind of worked in my favour, as it meant I could get up to speed.

“I wasn’t too far off being in there, but I didn’t have a few weeks training under my belt and a 30-minute game, so it really put me in good stead now and I’m quite happy with that.

“It stops the momentum, I’ve never really had a month off like that in the middle of the season, it’s a bit like pre-season where you want to try and get games in.

"It’s hard as everyone has corona so you can’t be playing anyone, so it was a real good chance today to get some minutes and hopefully we’re fully at it next Saturday.”