Team Luton show their strength-in-depth

Town steamrolled Kidderminster Harriers at Kenilworth Road on Saturday as Matt Robinson ably deputised for Smith, while Jake Howells excelled after coming on for the injured Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu.

Howells admitted: “The horrible injury to Smudger, and I hope he gets well soon, Matty had to go on earlier and he did well at Barnet and Pelly unfortunately got injured today and I had to come on.

“We’ve got such a good squad that everyone’s ready to come on. So it’s so important for people that aren’t playing to be ready.”

But Howells has no qualms about having to have warmed the bench so far this season, as he said: “I’d love to play, I’m gutted when I don’t play, but I can’t knock anyone because they’ve been doing so well, in good form.

“I’ll hopefully get a chance, but if I don’t I don’t, and if I do I’ve got to grab it with both hands and got to help the team which is the most important thing.”

The Hatters showed real unity with everyone concerned paying tribute to their sidelined team-mate who suffered a double leg break at Barnet on Boxing Day.

Experienced full-back Scott Griffiths added: “As far as the Smudger thing, you can’t really do much except just wish him all the best and hope him a speedy recovery.

“At the hospital they’ve got their job, they know what to do and we trust that they are doing the best they can for him and that’s what we had to do on the field today, do our best for him, for the team, for the club, for the fans obviously, who done a brilliant job today, it was over 8,000.

“So we just had to adjust. Obviously a little bit tired because of the 48-hour gap. But second half I think our fitness shone through and we took the points.”