Hashioka back for Luton at Bristol City but Town boss has 'question marks' over a few

Luton boss Rob Edwards is expecting to have defender Daiki Hashioka back in his squad to face Bristol City on Boxing Day, although he revealed Town might be forced into some changes from Friday night’s 2-1 victory over Derby County.

The Japanese international was missing from the last-gasp triumph over the Rams with a muscle strain, the first squad he has been absent from since the 2-0 defeat at Sheffield United in early October. Although Hashioka will return, there is a chance that Edwards could be without one or two who started against County though, as speaking to the press this morning, he said: “He’ll (Hashioka) be available which is good and then I know most got through it or it looked like most got through it, but we’ve got one or two questions marks which I won’t give you now for obvious reasons.

"We’re hoping that everyone who was involved the other day comes through again now, but one or two question marks, so fun and games. Potentially (he might have to make changes), we may anyway if we feel it’s the right thing to do for this game, but we’re hoping not to do it for injuries, more due to tactical reasons.”

Edwards isn’t anticipating having any other players who are part of Town’s backed up injury list available to face the Robins, or Swansea a few days later though, as he continued: “We’ve got people making decent progress, Reuell (Walters) has been really stepping up well, he’s been out for a decent period, so he’s looking like the next one and Amari’i (Bell) and Alfie (Doughty) are doing all right, but they’re not ready yet. There’s a bit of light there, which we've said before, but they're good names when I’m saying things like that.

"There are some good players there that we’re without at the moment and you listen to up and down the country, you see football and it’s happening to a lot of people at different places as well. We all have to go through it. It’s been a really challenging time but the lads have given us everything. The ones that are available right now, they're fighting really hard and we know over the next few weeks we can get stronger again, so we can take a lot of heart from that.”

One player who did return last week was Mads Andersen, as the Danish centre half made his first start in 14 months having been hit with hamstring and calf injuries since arriving in the summer of 2023 from Barnsley, where he had been a first team regular. Edwards knows he will have to take things carefully in the early stages of his comeback, saying: “We signed someone who was very resilient and played a lot of games, he just had a nasty hamstring in that Tottenham game, which was a high intensity game, high speed game.

"It took him out unfortunately and it’s been hard for him to recover since then, to regain consistency in his training. It’s been one thing after another which has been really tough for him and difficult for us as well as at times we’ve had five, six, seven centre backs missing which is just ridiculous. So great to have him out there, we signed him as that leader, someone who can defend the box really well, who loves getting their head on things, wants to block.

"He showed some of that the other night, but he’s been out so, so long, especially in the Championship when they come along thick and fast the games, we’ve got to find a way to keep him out there, but look after him as well. It’s difficult when you are missing so many.”

Meanwhile, Edwards did confirm there are no issues with midfielder Marvelous Nakamba, the Zimbabwean international having been confined to a place on the bench in Luton’s last three matches. Having recovered from a serious knee injury this term, Edwards added: “Marv played the Swansea game, it was a difficult game, but we got through it and got something from it and it’s been then just decisions.

"He’s trained really, really well today, but we’ve won a couple of games and lost one in the three he’s not played in, so it’s just a bit of competition in that area. He’s fine, training really well which is great. As he’s missed so long it’s been hard for him to get to his best. We’re obviously looking for a result, you're thinking right, can we play him and hopefully he gets to that level? But there's always we've got to protect him and we want to win a game, so it’s difficult.

"He’s right there, he’s training really well and is right in our thoughts going into all of these games now. I do think it’s something he’s got to manage because if you scan all of our bodies, we all have stuff going on in our knees, our ankles, our joints because it’s just wear and tear. Marv is someone who's an all action player isn’t he? There’s always going to be stuff he’s got to manage and maintain, but he certainly seems like he’s coping with it well which is a real plus for us.”