Town defender Bree 'excited' about the second half of the season after finally recovering from injury problems

Luton defender James Bree can start looking forward to the rest of the season after finally putting his injury problems behind him.

The full back’s arrival from Aston Villa on a permanent basis in the summer was one that enthused most Town supporters, following the dramatic improvement in his form following Nathan Jones’ arrival during lockdown last term.

That saw Bree produce a string of excellent displays, so much so that Jones went all out to bring in the 23-year-old, getting his man in September.

Without much of a pre-season behind him, Bree made three appearances, catching the eye with a terrific showing in the Carabao Cup at Reading, where he looked every inch the player who finished the previous campaign.

However, a knee problem against Derby kept him out for almost two months, as he featured in another five games before another niggle led to him being rested completely by Jones for a month.

Bree was back once more for the FA Cup win over Reading last month though and has started all of Luton's last three Championship clashes, as he said: “It’s been a really frustrating year for myself so far.

"I really wanted to come in and hit the ground running after the end of last year and its just not gone that way for me.

"But I’m excited for this next six months just to play consistently and hope I do well.

“I had the knee injury at the start of the season which I got against Derby and then rehabbed from that, came back and felt absolutely fine.

"Then it’s just a niggly one really, I’ve half sorted it out, it’s still a little bit sore, but I’m getting through it.

"So that should be absolutely fine soon, it’s just one of those annoying little injuries really.

“I’ve kept my fitness levels up really high, the last 10 minutes of games have been tough for me getting up and down but right back’s a hard position fitness-wise.

"That will come with the more games that I play.”

Bree has been slowly growing into his stride again though, gaining an assist for George Moncur’s wonderful volley during his hour against Reading, where he impressed with some driving runs and crosses from the right.

Although there was less to write home about in the next two league starts, he might have had another bonus at Brentford on Wednesday night, had Jordan Clark and Harry Cornick made the most of his passes during the 1-0 defeat.

He continued: “Since the Reading game especially QPR and Bournemouth, its been hard to get on the ball.

"I had a bit of joy tonight and would have been good to get a few assists if our finishing was a bit better, but that’s just how it is.

“It’s frustrating for all of us and we’ve spoken about it, the lack of goals that we’ve scored.

"We’re creating the chances and just not finishing them off, but it will turn around at some point.”

It’s a much different season to Bree's first in Luton colours as well, when they were rock bottom of the table at this stage, seemingly on their way back to League One.

A year on though and Town are sitting comfortably in 13th place, 13 points away from the drop zone and nine behind the final play-off spot.

It’s something Bree and the side are still aiming for though, as he said: "Since I've come in this season, the gaffer has said we’re only looking up.

"We're not trying to worry about relegation or being around where we were last year, it’s all about pushing on and seeing how far we can go.

"The play-offs is not that far away, so we’re still aiming for that.

"It's a stretch and obviously will be tough to do that, but we’ll see and we’re just trying to do our best.”

On why it has been such an improved campaign this time around, Bree added: “I think it’s just lads getting to know the league and everyone having more experience.

"We’ve got some really, really good players here, everyone’s such a tight knit group that we go to places and have a real belief that we can win games and do well in this league.

"Despite the result tonight (Wednesday), that shows how well we’ve played especially that second half and how we’ve got the result against Bournemouth at the weekend, so the team togetherness really, it helps us.”