Town trio ruled out of Bolton clash as Luton midfielder faces late fitness test

Luton midfielder Jake Richards face a late fitness test ahead of tomorrow’s League One clash against fellow promotion-chasers Bolton Wanderers at Kenilworth Road after suffering a calf injury during Tuesday night’s 2-1 victory over Huddersfield Town.

The 18-year-old had been restored to the starting line-up after being on the bench for the 5-0 thrashing by Barnsley on Saturday, coming on at the break, as he started his fourth out of five League One meetings under boss Jack Wilshere and got the ball rolling when his terrific volley from just outside the box was deflected past Terriers keeper Owen Goodman to put Luton ahead with his second of the season.

However, he then went off early in the second period, Jacob Brown taking his place, as asked whether he will be a doubt for Saturday’s match, Wilshere said: “He got a dead calf. He got a kick on the calf which is annoying as it can stick around for a while. You have to wait until he doesn’t feel it, so let’s see, it’ll be a late test on him.”

On the execution shown by the midfielder to score such a goal in the week, Wilshere continued: “I told him it went down as an own goal! But listen, even though it took a deflection, not many players can catch that. It’s a really hard technique to do and he’s got some ability. He still has loads to do, in my opinion he can play at a higher level in the future, but he still needs to do the right things, work hard, which he does to be fair and I’m really happy he got his goal.”

With Richards a doubt for the match, then duo Jordan Clark and Izzy Jones will definitely be absent, as giving an update on the pair, Wilshere said: “Clark is back on the pitch, he’s been training next to us, not with the team yet. Izzy again, I think it was good news, but probably a bit too soon. He’s not trained this week, he’s still in a bit of pain, but hopefully not too long. He got kicked on his ankle (against Barnsley). Thankfully it wasn’t that badly damaged, but still quite painful and we have to get him out of pain, control the pain and then slowly build it up.”

Another played who missed the midweek victory was forward Nahki Wells, who was taken off after just 20 minutes at Oakwell and won’t be available to go up against the Trotters either, with Wilshere saying: “Nahki’s, it was good news, it wasn’t what we thought, or as bad as we thought it was going to be, but he still needs a couple of weeks for it to calm down a little bit. He’s spent a few days back with his family in Bristol and he’s either back today or tomorrow and then we’ll start pushing on with the rehab, but he should be a couple of weeks.”

One player who is back in contention, more than likely for a place on the bench though is summer signing Shayden Morris, after his brief cameo on Tuesday night was a first run-out since Wilshere was appointed. Although he still looks some way short of match fitness, having played just eight times for Luton since arriving from Scottish Premier League side Aberdeen, just three of those starts, the manager said: “He hasn’t trained that much since I’ve been here.

"He probably needs to understand a bit more about the role of a winger and what it is, as he’s definitely someone who can deliver that and we’ve just wanted to get him back and get him training as there’s been a period where there’s been a lot of games. He’ll be involved and he’s someone who gives us something a little bit different.”

With Town having made five changes from Saturday to Tuesday night, then Wilshere didn’t rule out further alterations despite his side turning in a far better performance in midweek than they had when getting thumped by the Tykes in their previous outing, adding: “I think we’ve been consistent with the message and we have to work that way because of the demands of the league.

"Of course Saturday wasn’t good and probably from the outside looking in it was easy to make changes, but we knew we were going to have to make changes anyway. Certain players probably couldn’t recover from Saturday, Tuesday and we have a little bit more time in between, but it’s still a three game week and we’ve still got a three game week next week.

"So we’re always looking, we’re always trying to find ways to push the players a little bit more, without going over the top and it will be another game where we’re going to ask some players to find it in them to go again. The resilience I think was really evident on Tuesday. For me that game was about fighting and winning, winning your duels, showing some personality, showing some character and we definitely did that.”