Jones reveals Collins absence from Stoke clash was due to a possible case of coronavirus

Luton boss Nathan Jones revealed that a possible case of coronavirus kept striker James Collins out of this afternoon’s 2-0 defeat to Stoke City.

Eyebrows were raised ahead of kick-off when Town’s leading marksman with four goals to his name already this term, wasn’t included either in the starting 11 or on the bench, Danny Hylton leading the line instead.

There was some speculation among fans over the forward’s absence, particularly with the transfer window closing yesterday, but Jones was quick to quash any rumours, saying: “He’s not felt well, so we’ve had to pull him out, as is the thing.

“People tell me that social media-wise, well, we don’t drop James Collins, our leading goalscorer from the side, so lets have an element of common sense.

“In today’s society, when someone feels ill, then you have to pull them out as there is a disease going round, a pandemic, just in case anyone doesn’t realise.

“So we’ve had to pull him out from the game and test him, then we’re awaiting results on that test.

“I don’t know (if it will be positive), my crystal ball I haven't put on for a while.

“We don’t pull James Collins out of the squad unless he’s injured, or he’s done something ridiculous, which he doesn't normally do.

“So in a normal thing he would be ill, so you’d think ‘are you fit enough to play?’ ‘Yeah,’ and then you put him in, but this is a different world now.

“So if anyone feels ill then the whole world panics as it could be Covid and then there could be another pandemic within Luton Town.”

With Collins absent, Hylton made his first league start of the campaign, but couldn’t ever really go close to netting a maiden goal at Championship level.

On his display, Jones added: “It’s difficult as I thought first half he was excellent but then second half we never really got to grips because we couldn't be in control of the game.

“We had to go a little bit earlier into the front, we stopped playing, that’s why we bought Joe (Morrell) on, who I thought was fantastic when he came on.

“But when you go 2-0 down you can't really stick to the game plan, as they sit in and the space we normally find wasn't there then.”