Jones remaining tight-lipped over whether top scorer Adebayo is fit for Sky clash against Boro

Luton boss Nathan Jones was remaining tight-lipped as to whether top scorer Elijah Adebayo will be fit for tonight’s fixture against Middlesbrough to be shown live on Sky.

The Hatters forward missed Saturday’s trip to Preston North End due to a tight hamstring picked up late in the first half of the previous match against Hull City.

Town have failed to score in the game and a half Adebayo has missed, as when asked if he was expected to be available, Jones, speaking at Deepdale, where he had Henri Lansbury and Danny Hylton back on the bench, said: “We’re hoping we have a full team to select from, but we’ve got to be better than we were today.

“We are getting players available, but it’s not so much the player availability as we’ve had real good player availability.”

Midfielder Luke Berry isn’t expected to feature due to his knee injury picked up in the 1-0 win over Hull City, as Jones admitted he hadn't been happy with the preparation for the 2-0 defeat at the Lilywhites, continuing: “It’s a chance quickly to put things right as last week I didn't like last week.

“We had a week to prepare but because of the big shifts, we didn’t have much of a training group, we rested them, and a few of them looked sluggish.

“We’ve rested most of them that have played a lot of games, so seven or eight as you saw in the open (training) day were doing very little and I felt that had an impact.

“I’m pleased we’ve got an opportunity to get this out of our system."

Jones couldn't quite put his finger on just why Town had looked so lethargic at Deepdale, although felt giving his squad an extended rest in the build-up might have played a part.

He said: “We thought we’d freshen everyone up, but we looked sluggish, so whether that was because we freshened them up, because we didn’t train as much as we had, I don't know.

"It’s a balancing act all the time, train them too much and they’re fatigued, risk injury, stop training and they might put in performances like we did today.

"So it’s constant learning and readjustment, but we weren’t good enough.

"We were a mile off it all over and we tried to look after them physically as they’ve done big, big shifts, but we looked sluggish, we looked way off it.

"People that we’ve rested weren’t at their usual zippy and fast and quick selves and I don’t know why.

"We tried to look after them so we don't risk injury, but I’m just glad we’ve got a game Tuesday we can bounce back."

Town go up against a Middlesbrough side who lost their three game winning run at the weekend, to sit in 12th, just one place below the Hatters.

Luton are then back at home once more on Saturday when they host Stoke City, as the boss added; “We want to bounce back, it’s a tough game, Middlesbrough then Stoke, but we’ll concentrate on Middlesbrough first and go into a Sky game.

"You look at everyone, there’s very few teams that are inexperienced at the level.

"Three came up, but some that have come up have played at Championship level before, so it’s a constant, constant grind.

"It’s a constant tough league and we’ve got to make sure that we’re doing the right things.”