Thigh strain saw Rea withdraw in the warm-up at Leeds

Glen Rea was a late withdrawal against Leeds last night

Luton boss Nathan Jones confirmed that midfielder Glen Rea missed last night’s 1-1 draw against Leeds United with a thigh injury.

The 25-year-old was in line to make his 151st appearance for the club after being named in the starting line-up, only to withdraw moments before kick-off, Martin Cranie taking his place.

On the problem, Jones said: “In the warm-up, he just felt his thigh, so there's absolute zero point in taking a risk.

“Cranie came in and did fantastically well, that's what the squad’s for.

“We have preached about game changers, preached about the importance of the squad and everyone buying into it, and that just shows it.”

Cranie was one of five changes in the end for Town, with Danny Hylton, Callum McManaman, James Bree and Ryan Tunicliffe all brought in from Saturday’s 1-0 win at Swansea City, James Collins, Harry Cornick and Elliot Lee dropping to the bench, where they were also belatedly joined by Jacob Butterfield.

When asked if the alterations were made purely to freshen up his side from their exploits at the Liberty Stadium in such a congested schedule, Jones added: “That’s one thing, but tactically we needed to play a certain way.

"I've come up against Leeds four times, and only lost once, won two and drawn one, so you know what you’re going to come up against.

"You go gung ho against them, you’re open, they cut you open and carve you apart as they're such a good side.

"So I knew we had to do a little bit of tweaking, we did that, we denied them space, we pressed from a certain way and I thought we were very, very organised and disciplined.

"We’d loved to have had a little bit more attacking, but these have been together for two years and they're well drilled, they're excellent in what they do.

"They have one of the best managers in the world, so it's a wonderful point, when you take everything into consideration, it's a wonderful point.”