Iraq international back to bolster Luton's dwindling striking options

Luton’s on-loan Ipswich Town striker Ali Al-Hamadi is back in contention to provide a much-needed boost to the Hatters’ dwindling forward options for tomorrow’s crucial home clash against Stockport County.

The 24-year-old has had an increasingly mixed time of it since arriving at Kenilworth Road from the Tractor Boys back in September, as it took over him six weeks to make his debut having joined with a calf injury, coming off the bench to face Forest Green Rovers in the FA Cup on October 31 and then featuring at Stockport in the next match, before being ruled out for another two months due to injury.

Back for the trip to Huddersfield in late January, Al-Hamadi featured in six of the next Town seven squads, making his full debut in the 1-0 loss at Wigan Athletic, but has been absent from the last four third tier games, although has thankfully been declared available for the Hatters this weekend, as with both Nahki Wells and Elijah Adebayo expected to be out, they could have been left with just one fully fit senior striker in Devante Cole.

Wilshere said of the forward, who has made just eight appearances so far, yet to score as well: “Ali has trained this week. He felt his foot before, but he’s been back fully training. He was a question mark for Tuesday (3-2 win over Exeter City). We decided to give him an extra few days training to see how he responds, but he’s responded well and he’s available for selection. Elijah felt his hip on Tuesday, he’s having some tests so we’ll see how we is, but he’ll probably be short for tomorrow, same with Nahki.

"He came off against Wycombe with a hamstring that probably at the time we thought was going to be a lot worse than it is. Unfortunately he’s not ready for tomorrow, but he’ll be ready after the international break. We need that, as number nines need to feel pressure I think. The best nines I played with always had someone behind them pushing them, driving them, and we’ve got that, so we welcome back Ali.”

Although Al-Hamadi hasn’t been playing for Luton, he was named in the Iraq squad for their World Cup play-off final clash against either Bolivia or Suriname which takes place on Thursday, April 1. His last trip away with the Lions of Mesopotamia led to him being injured when winning his 18th cap and scoring his fourth goal in the 1-1 draw with the UAE, but Wilshere wasn’t going to stand in his way of potentially reaching a World Cup Finals, even if he did any worries about his forward picking up another injury, having played in one himself for England back in 2014.

He added: “Every time we go out there’s a little bit of concern in my head that what if one player was to get injured? But the way we try and prepare the players is so they become robust and when you do that and they’re pushed close to the edge, there always is that risk there. You might push it a little bit too much and with Ali we’ve got experience of it happening before, so there is a little bit of that, but also I understand how important it is for him, how important it is for his country, that they’ve got an opportunity to go to World Cup.

"I wouldn’t want to stop him from having that opportunity, because again, to play for your country is the biggest honour, but to represent your country at a World Cup is probably the highlight of my career. Of course there’s a little bit of concern, but I don’t think Ali should have any concern in his head. He needs to go there, be clear, he’s had a good block of training behind him. I know he’s missed the last 10 days with a knock on his foot, but before that the problem he had, the muscular injury, he looks strong, he looks sharp in training. Hopefully he can help us tomorrow and then go and be successful with his country.”