Naismith insists Luton's players aren't feeling sorry for themselves despite ongoing injury crisis

Luton defender Kal Naismith insists that Town’s squad aren’t feeling sorry for themselves despite the injury crisis at Kenilworth Road that has blighted their push to cement a play-off place in recent weeks.

Season-ending injuries have robbed the Hatters of goalkeepers James Shea and Jed Steer, with Gabe Osho’s campaign ended by a hamstring issue, Glen Rea also suffering the same fate when on loan at Wigan Athletic.

James Bree, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu and Luke Berry have all been missing from Town’s starting line-up, while Sonny Bradley and Elijah Adebayo were both absent from the 7-0 defeat at Fulham on Monday.

That game saw Allan Campbell pull out of the side during the warm-up, as to make matters worse, winger Fred Onyedinma was then forced off with half an hour gone, as boss Nathan Jones stated his replacement Peter Kioso and unused substitute Harry Cornick were carrying knocks too.

However when asked if it was affecting the players who are fit and available, Naismith said: “No, we don’t feel sorry for ourselves.

"I feel sorry for the person as we’ve got an emotional attachment, we’re like family here, when one goes down, we’re gutted for them, we’re heartbroken, but we don’t sit and dwell and say ‘we’ve got everything going against us.’

"Someone else comes in and they’re getting a chance, I’m happy for them to get a chance to come in and perform and see how they do.

"We’ve been outstanding the past two games, we should have beaten Blackpool, a decision goes against us, we win the match before (at Cardiff), get beat by Fulham, they’re champions for a reason, but we go again Saturday against Reading, a big game.”

Naismith also backed whoever gets the nod to come into Town’s team for such a huge game against the Reading tomorrow, with Luton knowing a win secures their play-off place, to show they are up to the task in front of them.

He added: “That’s why we’ve got a squad, there’s outstanding lads coming in and I’m glad that the boys are getting a chance.

“They work hard day in day out, so when someone goes down I’m devastated for them, like Fred going down, absolutely gutted.

"When Gabe got injured earlier in the season and told he was missing the rest of the season, Pell, I know these people well, I know how hard they work.

"So I’m heartbroken for them, but then it’s someone else’s chance to step in and do well and we’ve been doing that to a man.

"It gets difficult when we’ve got the number of injuries we’ve got, but we’ve still got a great team, regardless.

"When Fulham play like that, it’s always going to be a tough place to come, so we brush this one aside, learn from it, but prepare for a big one on Saturday.”