Luton boss knows first Hatters start will serve on-loan Stoke attacker Ince well

Luton chief Nathan Jones believes on-loan Stoke City attacker Tom Ince will benefit greatly from getting 75 minutes on his first start for the club in Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw against Millwall.

The 29-year-old, who joined from Town’s Championship rivals until the end of the season on deadline day, had been restricted to two substitute outings so far, while missed the trip to his parent club last weekend due to the rules of his temporary move.

Ince's last start came back on December 19 for the Potters, as he fell out of favour at the bet365 Stadium under Michael O'Neill, beginning just two games in total this term, playing one full 90 minutes and featuring for just over four hours in total.

Against the Lions, he was deployed behind main striker Elijah Adebayo and showed some excellent close control, while he was responsible for some of Town’s best moments, one driving run winning a free kick in the first half and seeing a shot flipped over the bar by keeper Bartosz Bialkowski after the interval.

He then made a fine burst into the box to try and meet Ryan Tunnicliffe's cross that was eventually turned home at the back post by Adebyao, as Jones knows the minutes will serve him swell, saying: “Yes, it will and he did well in a slightly different position.

"It was a little bit more unorthodox in terms of playing off the front man, but he gave us a little bit of control in his play.

"I was very, very pleased with how he came through it, and he's only going to get better with time.”