Naismith out with illness Hatters make two changes against Peterborough United

Luton have welcomed back long-serving midfielder Jordan Clark to their side for today’s League One trip to Peterborough United.

The 33-year-old is one of two changes made by manager Jack Wilshere, with Joe Johnson replacing skipper Kal Naismith, who misses out due to illness, while Nahki Wells is on the bench after coming off against Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday night due to injury. Youngster Benny Benagr is among the substitutes, along with Harrison Ashby,

Town take on a Posh side now managed by former Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers midfielder Robbie Savage, who left his job at Forest Green Rovers to move to the third tier side, winning two, drawing two and losing two of his opening six matches. Luton chief Jack Wilshere said: “There’s been a clear response from the team since Robbie’s come in. Whenever I was watching an opposition we were going to play against, I would watch Peterborough as I liked the way they played under Luke (Williams).

"I thought that was a really good team, obviously they made a change, Robbie’s come in, Robbie’s very different to that, he wants a certain style, a certain way of playing. It probably represents his character a lot, and Robbie is someone that I’ve got a lot of respect for. His journey is interesting, he got released from (Manchester) United and he’s always kept that mentality of trying to prove people wrong.

"He constantly does it and has that attitude towards it. We’re expecting a game that is high energy. They want to play forward, they want to create chances, they want to attack. We have to be ready for that, we have to make sure we respect that and we do our job defensively, then hopefully we can hurt them with the ball.

“Robbie’s probably searching for consistency in performances. He’s probably seen a lot of good things, a lot of talent a lot of ability, a lot of players who want to attack and it takes time, it takes time to be harder to beat as a team, to be more difficult to play against, while still having that attacking side of the game. So it's going to be a game that we definitely have to appreciate with full respect, as they can make something happen out of nothing. When you have good players that can happen, but also then back ourselves to hurt them with the ball.”

Luton do have midfielder Dan Gore available on the bench once more, as on the return of the Manchester United youngster, who came on during Tuesday night’s victory, Wilshere added: “Dan only trained one day before the game. We wanted to get him in and around it, because we know we’re going to need him, we’re going to need his quality soon on the pitch and the quicker he can play some minutes and get up to speed, the better for us. He trained Monday, played Tuesday, recovered Wednesday, trained yesterday, he’s going to train today, he just needs to get up to speed.”

Posh: Alex Bass, Carl Johnston ©, Liam Kelly, Tom O’Connor, Harry Leonard, Ethan Williams, Harley Mills, Vernon Masara, Lucca Medonca, Bolu Shofowoke, Harry Ashfield. Subs: Collin Andeng Ndi, Evan Weir, Sam Hughes, Brandon Khala, Declan Frith, Danny Ormerod, Matt Garbett.

Hatters: James Shea, Izzy Jones, Joe Johnston, Mads Andersen, George Johnston, Liam Walsh, Jordan Clark ©, Jamie Donley, Kasey Palmer, Callum Marshall. Subs: Josh Keeley, Dan Gore, Tudor Mengi, Harrison Ashby, Nahki Wells, Emilio Lawrence. Benny Benagr. Referee: Lee Sandoe.