Hatters boss pleased to see Shea keep a clean sheet on his comeback from horrific knee injury

​Luton boss Rob Edwards was hugely pleased to see keeper James Shea get a clean sheet on his return to the first team against Hull City on Monday.

The 31-year-old hadn’t started a Championship game since April 18, 2022 when suffering a horrific knee injury during the 1-0 win at Cardiff City which saw him out of action for over nine months.

Having played for the Development squad in their Beds County Cup Final victory over Biggleswade FC last month, Shea had been back on the bench in recent weeks, ahead of transfer window signing Jack Walton.

With Edwards then making eight changes to his side for the clash with the Tigers, regular stopper Ethan Horvath missed out allowing Shea to come in, with the League One promotion winner afforded a warm ovation by the Kenilworth Road crowd.

He was almost beaten in the first half when Allahyar Sayyadmanesh pounced on a poor back header from Sonny Bradley, only for the captain’s last-ditch block to deflect the ball on to the post.

Shea was then called upon before the break, making an excellent save from Adama Traore's free kick, the ball taking a bounce just in front of him, as after the interval and with the game petering out, it was a fairly easy route to his 42nd clean sheet in 107 outings for the Hatters.

During his post-match press conference, Edwards spoke of his praise for the keeper and about just what a hard decision it is picking Town’s number two, as he said: “I'm really pleased for Sheasy, along with Jack as well.

"It’s a really difficult position, the goalkeeper as they know there’s only going to be one.

"They're such a tight unit, they support each other really well, I want to say Sheasy and Jack really support Ethan, train so hard, and it’s a really hard decision at times to leave one of them out, even off the bench.

"They work so hard throughout the week and neither one of them, Sheasy or Jack, deserve to miss out.

"Someone has to, and of course they can’t all play but I was really pleased with Sheasy today.

"He’s trained really well, worked really hard to come back from his really bad injury and I thought he was very, very assured.”