On-loan Magpies full back in contention as Town boss welcomes 'good problems'

Luton boss Jack Wilshere expects on-loan Newcastle United Harrison Ashby to be in contention for this afternoon’s trip to Gillingham in the first round of the Carabao Cup despite having to sit out a spell of Town’s pre-season campaign.

The 24-year-old moved to Kenilworth Road on loan from the Magpies last month, and he got his first run-out when playing the opening half of Town’s opening pre-season friendly, a 5-0 victory against Hitchin Town. He then missed the 2-2 draw at Barnet, and also didn’t feature when Luton took on Saudi Pro League side Al Kholood while the team were out in Spain on their warm weather training camp.

However, Ashby, who saw a thigh problem restrict him when on loan with Bradford City last term, did get an hour against Go Ahead Eagles B in a 4-1 victory on Saturday and is now expected to be involved in the squad that travels to the MEMS Priestfield Stadium this afternoon, as Wilshere said: “Harrison is looking good. He played 60 against Go Ahead Eagles, he was blowing at the end of that 60, but we wanted to keep pushing him.

"It was unfortunate for him as it was literally a nothing thing in training where he blocked the ball, it hit his ankle the wrong way and he had to miss five days, but that was a crucial time for him. He’s probably a little bit behind everyone, but he looked good in that game and we’ll try when we can to give him the minutes to get him up to speed.”

With Town having a virtually fully-fit squad barring long-term absentee Shandon Bapstiste, then that, plus the emergence of youngsters like Jayden Luker and Harry Fox, will give Wilshere some real selection headaches over who to choose as Luton look to navigate safe passage through to round two. It’s something he is relishing, continuing: “Pre-season is really important for me, for the coaches, but most importantly for the players.

"It gives players an opportunity because number one physically, but number two you want to look at things, and see how players do in certain positions. You want to give young players an opportunity to step up to the first team and I would say a lot of players have taken that opportunity, so it gives me a few problems to pick from, but they’re good problems.”

Whatever side he does pick, then with it being both teams’ first competitive game of the campaign, the emphasis for Wilshere will be more on what his players can do on the day, having only got a small sample size of just how Gillingham might look to line up this term. With the Gills managed by the hugely experienced Gareth Ainsworth, it shouldn’t mean there are too many surprises, as he added: “I watched them against Brentford, I watched them against Charlton and in both games they changed a lot, so that’s probably a bit different.

"We don’t know what they’re going to do, so my job this week was to give the players the clarity around what I think they’re going to do rather than individuals, and we think we’ve got a good idea of that. Their threat is more a collective threat which probably reflects their manager and what he wants in terms of passion and how hard they work. They have a clear way of playing, so we have to be ready for that.

"It’s been a little bit tougher as I can still watch their pre-season games albeit they’re a little bit different, but in those games they might be trying some stuff that they want to bring in this season. I can still watch some games from last season as well. Gareth’s got loads of experience and I played against his team and probably a lot of the time he’ll want to see the same behaviours in all the teams he’s coached. So it’s probably a little bit more difficult, but I feel like we’re ready.