Hylton remains a doubt for Blackpool clash

Hatters leading scorer Danny Hylton remains a big doubt for Saturday's League Two clash with Blackpool at Kenilworth Road.
Hatters striker Danny HyltonHatters striker Danny Hylton
Hatters striker Danny Hylton

The 24-goal striker didn’t feature against Colchester United last weekend, missing out with a tight hamstring, and boss Nathan Jones admitted the forward has been kept out of training this week in order to boost his chances of recovery.

Speaking to the press today, he said: “We’ve had to really wrap him up in cotton wool, we haven’t gambled on him or anything.

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“So it’s going to be really touch and go with him bit hopefully he can be back and hopefully play some part.

“Other players have to step up, we missed Danny on the weekend because any side in this league would miss him, so we’ll be hoping to get him back.”

Midfielder Jordan Cook is also expected to be absent after he went off in the 2-1 defeat at the Westons Homes Community saying, as Jones continued: “He felt his hamstring and you just can’t gamble with those kind of injuries.

“He hasn’t pulled anything, but if you do gamble and force them back, then it could turn into a more long term than it is.

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“So we’ve got to be careful and we’ve come down this week on the training wise, just got them bubbling ready to go for Saturday.

Full back Dan Potts is another one unavailable as he still recovers from a nasty clash of heads in the 0-0 draw at Carlisle United earlier this month.

Jones said: “He’s still struggling a little bit, we’ll have a medical update on it, but he’s still feeling the effects of it.

“With any kind of head or neck injury, you have to be so, so careful with protocols and we follow all the protocol.

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“Sometimes they can be very, very slow, but if you don’t follow them you can be wide open.”

There was better news on centre half Johnny Mullins though, after he also missed Saturday with a recurrent of his leg injury in the 1-1 draw against Newport as Town’s boss said: “We think we’ve got to the bottom of the problem so he could be available for Saturday.

“It’s one of those where we don’t really like rushing them, we had to rush him back a little bit for the Newport game, and it didn’t pay off.

“We actually think we’ve found out what the issue is, so we’ve sorted that, he’s had a little injection so hopefully he’ll be back training tomorrow and then available for the weekend.

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“He hasn’t missed a big chunk of football, he has played games, so he’s not minus match time.”

One player who is definitely available is midfielder Luke Gambin, who has missed the last two games due to being on international duty with Malta.

The transfer window signing from Barnet won his seventh cap in a 3-1 defeat to Slovakia, as Jones said: “He’s had a nice little trip away, a nice little holiday to Valletta, he played and was bright in his game as well.

“So he’s come back into contention and we’re happy with that.”

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On Luton’s recent injury problems, compounded by Cameron McGeehan’s broken leg at Portsmouth in January, Jones added: “We look at our board and we’ve probably got five starters out, in terms of Cameron, Johnny Mullins, Dan Potts, Danny Hylton, Jordan Cook, there’s five, so that would deplete any squad.

“But we’ve got a good squad, it gives others opportunity and if it cripples up then I’d have to hold my hands up and say look we really are struggling injury-wise.

“We’re going through a little bit of the mill with injuries, but we still have a strong enough squad to cope with that.