Luton's on-loan Stoke attacker Ince is sidelined by ankle injury

On-loan Luton midfielder Tom Ince is facing a spell on the sidelines after suffering an ankle injury in the 2-0 defeat against former club Derby County recently.

The 29-year-old had only come on during the second half, but limped off at Pride Park following the final whistle.

He then missed the 2-1 loss against Barnsley on Easter Monday, as Jones said: “Sadly for Tom, he is going to be out a little bit longer than we would have liked.

“He rolled his ankle and that is a painful one for Tom, that is why he missed out really.”

Since arriving on loan from Stoke City on deadline day, Ince has been restricted to just three starts for the Hatters, with a further four appearances from the bench.

When asked if the ex-Huddersfield, Blackpool and Crystal Palace attacker had achieved the kind of impact he wanted when signing him from Town’s Championship rivals, Jones added: “Tom was probably going to impact the last seven or eight games of the season because his last 90 minutes before coming to us was December 26th, so he had a month without playing any first team football or any games.

“We knew we would have to build him up.

“He did have impact, real impact at Preston away, real impact in the home game against Millwall.

“We always knew he was gathering pace but that has been curtailed slightly because of the injury.

“But we always knew he would have to gather a little bit of pace, especially to get up to speed with the rest of the group.”