Luton boss revealed injury forced defender off at half time during Leeds loss

Luton boss Rob Edwards revealed that defender Reece Burke was forced off with injury during yesterday’s 3-0 defeat at Leeds United.

The 28-year-old had only just returned for the 1-0 victory over Hull City on Saturday, having missed the previous five matches due to a groin problem. He began in the right wingback slot at Elland Road on Wednesday evening, as after Sam Byram put the hosts ahead, the ex-West Ham youngster fluffed a great chance to level the scores just before half time, heading Carlton Morris’s inviting cross wide of the target.

The centre half then couldn’t prevent Joel Piroe from reacting first to slam home from close range when Thomas Kaminski clawed away Pascal Struijk’s header from a corner in first half stoppage time. Burke didn’t reappear for the second period, replaced by Daiki Hashioka, as asked about his absence, and how he got on in the right wingback slot he had been deployed in once more, Edwards said: “He said he felt his quad in the first minute.

"We'll assess him and see how he is. He tried to go in tight and then they look to spin it in behind and they’re excellent at that, so there was a lot there for him to do, which we knew that anyway. It doesn’t help when he feels that in the first minute which I wasn't aware of until half time.”

Town had made four changes in total for the match, as Victor Moses came in to play as left wingback, with Amari’i Bell also returning to drop into the back three, Jordan Clark and Jacob Brown also returning. Discussing the alterations he made for a clash, Town barely able to lay a glove on the Whites, Edwards added: We made what we felt were the right decisions.

"Amari’i coming in was the natural choice and Vic, for wanting him to come inside and give us a bit of an option with a through ball or a little bit of quality on that side. Clicker coming in from suspension, so I think they made sense, Brown up top for Eli too. They'll be fresh people ready and available for the weekend at Norwich.”