Luton chief hails 'outstanding' Isted as on-loan Aston Villa stopper set for a scan on Achilles injury

Town boss Nathan Jones hailed Harry Isted’s performance from the bench during last night’s FA Cup defeat against Chelsea as ‘outstanding’ after confirming on-loan Aston Villa keeper Jed Steer will require a scan to find out the severity of his Achilles injury.

With 14 minutes gone and the Hatters 1-0 to the good thanks to Reece Burke's early header, Steer, on his fifth appearance since signing on loan from the Premier League side, went down in a heap following a long ball over the top.

The 29-year-old knew instantly it was a bad injury, thumping the playing surface in frustration before being stretchered off, having suffered two similar injuries when at his parent club.

With James Shea not among the substitutes it meant that Isted was called on for only his third Luton outing, both Checkatrade Trophy clashes in front of small crowds, and a first since October 2018.

The former Stoke and Southampton youngster didn't let anyone down though, far from it, as although he was beaten once by Saul before the break, made some marvellous saves from the on-loan Atletico Madrid midfielder, plus Romelu Lukaku and Kenedy.

After the interval, Isted was powerless to prevent Timo Werner and Lukaku from scoring late on to send the Blues though, as Jones said: “He (Steer) got injured, we’ll have to scan it.

"It's an Achilles injury, we knew straight away and the extraordinary thing is we had a goalkeeper that come on who has played three senior games and was absolutely outstanding.

"He didn't look out place, which is very pleasing for us.

“It can go one of two ways, you can either crumble or you can embrace it and he really embraced it.

"I don’t think he had too much time to get nervous, he went from a comfort zone to being right in the firing line and he was excellent, but that's the group we have here.

"They train hard, they graft, so whenever they're called upon, they respond.”

Asked for an update on Shea, who himself was in the side recently until Steer's arrival on deadline day, Jones continued: "James had a tight hamstring, so we can't risk both and tonight was a gamble in terms of the changes we made and some of the selections.

"It was a calculated one, knowing what we have, it paid off in terms of certain ways.”

If as expected, Steer's season is now sadly over, the with 13 games in the Championship left, starting with the weekend trip to play-off rivals Middlesbrough, Jones insisted he would have no issues in Isted's promotion to Town's number two.

He added: “He’s going to have to be, the window's shut, regardless of what it is.

"Unless I bring Kev Dearden (head of goalkeeping( out of retirement, that’s going to be it.

"He’s shown enough and he’s fine.”