Hatters boss admits it was a 'bitter blow' to be without missing trio at Addicks

Town chief Graeme Jones labelled it a ‘bitter blow’ to be without the services of attacking duo Izzy Brown and Kazenga LuaLua, plus captain Sonny Bradley for the 3-1 defeat at Charlton Athletic on Saturday.

The trio had all been involved for the previous weekend’s 1-0 win at Middlesbrough, LuaLua and Bradley starting, but were absent from the teamsheet for what was a crucial Championship at the Valley with minor knocks, while Brown had a virus.

It meant that James Bree, Harry Cornick and Glen Rea came into the starting line-up, with Luke Bolton and George Moncur drafted on to the bench, the duo plus Callum McManaman coming on in the second period,

Jones said: “You’re missing Sonny from last week, everybody’s seen Izzy Brown’s contribution when he came on, and Kazenga LuaLua, I thought was man of the match last week, so that was a bitter blow before the game.

"All of a sudden, three players that played a huge part at Middlesbrough, we’re missing them, but it’s not the main reason why we lost.

"You want to be at full strength and then have power to come off the bench in terms of affecting the game.

“I thought the subs did well, George had three shots, I don't know how long he was on, maybe 25 minutes.

“But we need that choice, we need that power coming off the bench either Harry (Cornick) or Kaz and today we didn’t have it.

“The game petered out a little bit, but again there's 12 games to go.

“Nothing was ever going to be decided today, winning or losing, we’ve got to pick ourselves up and go again on Tuesday (against Brentford).”