Hatters chief hopes illness at Kenilworth Road clears up for Terriers trip

Luton boss Jack Wilshere is hoping that the bout of sickness sweeping through Kenilworth Road begins to clear in time for tonight’s trip to League One leaders Huddersfield Town.

The Hatters make yet another trip to the Accu Stadium, a venue that Town supporters have become accustomed to visiting in recent years, with doubts over captain Kal Naismith, who missed Saturday’s 2-0 victory at Peterborough United, which saw Joe Johnson come into the starting XI, despite the academy graduate being one of several players who had been struggling himself.

Wilshere has been boosted by the return of full back Harrison Ashby from a groin injury, the Newcastle United loanee replacing Izzy Jones late on, with another youngster in Benny Benagr named on the bench after his recovery from a hamstring injury that had kept him out for almost two months. Speaking about his selection issues, Wilshere said: “We’ve got a little bit of illness.

"Kal was out with illness, Izzy (Jones) was a little bit ill, JJ’s a little bit ill, but we need that mentality that there’s no excuses. We know the demands of this league, you’re coming into the team, you’re going to help them and they certainly did that. We need competition for places. Izzy was a little bit ill and credit to Izzy, he’s given a lot since coming on against Barnsley for Haks (Hakeem Odoffin).

"He’s another example of sitting on the side, watching the team and realising what he has to do to get in the team, and when he gets in the team, executing it. He’s getting better and better and he gave a lot, through his illness, and he just got on with it. We wanted to help him out at the end and it’s good we’ve got Ashby to do it.”

Long-serving player Jordan Clark was also another one who has been affected with the illness, missing last Tuesday night’s 3-1 win over Doncaster Rovers, although he recovered to score the opening goal at the Weston Homes Stadium on Saturday. The midfielder, speaking at the Posh, continued: “We’ve been struggling badly.

"A couple of the boys have got it who couldn’t be here today. I’m still a bit under the weather, but it’s just trying to get out there and full credit to five, six of the starters who played today and were all struggling. Sometimes you’ve got to go through it if you can, but now we can hopefully get rid of the illness in the camp and go into Tuesday with a full squad which is fit and healthy.”

Town will be hoping they have as many options available to them as possible when heading to a Huddersfield side, who like Luton, have hit some real consistency, winning four in a row and five from their last six to move to the top of the table. With ex-Hatter Joe Taylor top of the club’s scoring charts with nine goals and four in his last six outings, while Portuguese winger Derensili Sanches Fernandes also has seven this term, it means the Terriers are the leading scorers in the division with 27.

They are only one ahead of Luton though, who are joint second with Stockport on 26, while Wilshere’s men are the highest scorers on the road, with 14, as on the test, Town’s sixth game in 17 days, the boss added: “The next game is always the toughest. When you’re coming to the end of the block of an intense period, to go again mentally, physically, emotionally, you have to recover.

"They can spend some with their families to try and stop the illness spreading, but then turn up with the intent of, respect for Huddersfield, but then also some courage to go there and try and get a win. We know them well from last year We had a good game at home (2-1 victory) and we had a terrible game away from home (1-0 defeat to 10 men), where that was a tough night.

"We know they’ve got a new coach (Martin Drury), credit to him he’s done really well since taking the job. They’re tough to play against and they’ve got some good players that can hurt you. We have to be ready for that, and we will be. We’ll go through the same processes we always do, and be ready for a big game.”