Hatters boss insists the Championship fixture schedule due to 'horrific' World Cup rather than Town's training methods is to blame for Luton's injury problems

Luton boss Nathan Jones insisted the Championship fixture schedule is the main reason behind Town’s continuing injury problems this season, rather than the club’s methods at the training ground.

Tuesday night’s 3-3 draw with Huddersfield Town saw the Hatters without Gabe Osho, Cauley Woodrow, Reece Burke and Luke Freeman, meaning that with Sonny Bradley coming back to full fitness, Jones had to shuffle his defence, dropping wingback James Bree into the back three.

It was a similar situation last year when Town suffered one of their worst injury crises that severely hampered their chances to win the play-offs, beaten by the Terriers 2-1 on aggregate, after sending a depleted side into action during both legs.

Although Luton are struggling once more with their player availability, Osho and Woodrow both suffering injuries in training recently, Jones felt it was more to do with the nature of the Championship fixture schedule that was the cause, rather than anything his coaching staff were doing, as he said: “We’re constantly monitoring our processes and how we deliver information and the players are doing their bit as well, it’s just unfortunate with the way things are.

"There are a lot of contributory factors, three away games on the spin where you’ve got big journeys don’t help.

"When you’ve sat on a bus for hours and hours and hours and then you put in big shifts, then you can’t sleep, so all these things.

"The fixture schedule because of a horrific World Cup, all these contribute.

“This is the most athletic league in the world in terms of intensity, it’s the highest number of games in the shortest period of time, all these things add up to why Championship teams pick up injuries.

“So you either be really passive and cruise through a season and not get injuries, or do you want to play the way you play?

"We don’t get any help, we’re not like the Premier League who play once a week and have big time to prepare, and have 100 and whatever million it is to improve facilities, so you’ve got hydro pools and contrast bathing and five masseurs and health clubs and all that kind of thing.

"We don’t have that, so we’ve got to be very careful, but we’re up against it, and so it’s not about adjusting your training, it’s about making sure your protocols are really steadfast.”

Having been on the bench for Friday night’s 2-0 win at Hull City, coming on for Burke at half time following his hamstring injury, Osho had been expected to be in from the start in midweek, but didn’t make the teamsheet, as Jones continued: “It’s exactly the same, on Monday he picked up an injury in training, again, a slight fatigue injury.

"Last year he had a significant hamstring injury so we’ve got to be very careful with him, and then just a bit left over from that really.

"We’ve just got to be careful with them at times, make sure our processes are good, because we’re an aggressive team, but to keep being aggressive in-between games, we’ve got to keep doing the right things.”

With so many sidelined, it saw two of Luton’s Development squad named among the substitutes for the first time in a Championship clash on Tuesday night, as Zack Nelson and Casey Pettit were both in the 18-man squad.

Although Jones expects to have more options when Town travel to West Bromwich Albion this weekend, he felt the duo had deserved their opportunity, adding: “We’ll hopefully get a couple of back so we’ll be a little bit stronger, but those who were on the bench have earned their right.

"We’ve talked about Zack, but Casey has done really well in the development games he’s played, showed he can handle it.

"It’s not a massive thing, but yes we should be stronger in that department.”