Rooney a doubt while injured quartet not ready yet

The wideman, who is Luton’s second top goalscorer this season, is manager John Still’s only worry, as although Alex Lawless, Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, Paul Benson and Luke Guttridge are making progress, they are not being considered just yet.

Still said: “Rooney has got a little bit of a groin problem, but from the group that’s been playing, he’s the only one that’s a doubt.

“Gutts has just started light training, Paul Benson is on track to where we thought he would be, we’re hoping that next week he can push on and join in with us the following week.

“Lawless is making progress, he’s not ready yet, but he’s certainly making progress, that’s been quite pleasing,

“Pelly is so close to training, but you get to a stage where we got before and he played and felt it, so we just have to make sure with that.

“But fingers crossed with Lawless and Pelly, probably even Gutts not far behind, it’s a couple of weeks, that’s what we’re looking at.

“It is what it is though. I just get on with it and don’t want to worry about it too much.”

With the quartet closing in on a return to selection, it has made Still think twice about signing replacements during the transfer window.

He continued: “I’m always mindful of bringing someone that you end up not playing.

“We have things that we would do if it works out, but we haven’t quite got to that stage yet.

“With the injured players, they’re all a similar ilk, all attacking players. It is difficult and I’m so mindful of bringing someone in that’s not exactly what you want, but better than what you have and I’m not always sure that’s the right way to go.

“But we’ll get this weekend out of the way, have a look at how the injuries are and if we need to then we would probably do something next week.”

If Still does venture into the market, then he confirmed it would be for someone to could go straight into first team contention.

The boss added: “In my mind, I always have grade A and grade B.

“There are players who are coming to play in the first team and there’s players coming to hopefully develop to play in the first team.

“If anyone comes in now it will be someone who’s ready and capable to play in the first team. The undercurrent we have, the people to play in the first team we have, but they’re injured, so if they come in now it would be to play in the first team.”