Luton striker a doubt for play-offs after suffering knee injury at Reading

Luton forward Cauley Woodrow faces a race to be fit for Town’s play-off campaign after suffering a knee injury in the 1-1 draw against Reading last week.

The 28-year-old has had a difficult season since arriving from Barnsley in the summer, with a variety of injuries and the form of Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo restricting him to just three league starts recently.

He was then recalled against Rotherham United earlier this month, on target with his third goal this term, and then made it back-to-back starts when Town travelled to the Madejski Stadium a week ago.

Alongside Morris, Woodrow was looking sharp in the first half against the Royals, testing keeper Joe Lumley a number of times from outside the box and also saw what looked a certain goal denied by a desperate block.

In the second period and with Luton trailing 1-0, the former Fulham attacker had another crack from just outside the box, dragging narrowly wide, although appeared to catch a visiting defender in his follow through and despite trying to play on after treatment, was replaced by Luke Freeman.

He then wasn’t in the squad for the 2-1 win over Middlesbrough on Monday night, and has already been ruled out of next week’s trip to Blackburn Rovers.

Luton’s final game of the regular season sees them host Hull on Monday, May 8, before they then take part in the play-offs and when asked about his absence, boss Rob Edwards said: “It was why he came off against Reading, he felt his knee slightly, so he wasn’t fit for tonight.

"I’m not too sure yet how long he will be, hopefully not too long.

"He’s feeling better from it every day, but I don’t anticipate him being fit for next week, I’m hoping to have him back for the run-in, but we’ll see.”

Since Edwards has taken over, although making just three league starts, Woodrow has come off the bench in all but two of the remaining second tier fixtures, as the Town chief declared just how big a role he has in the squad.

He added: “He’s been a really important player from day one for us.

"He was obviously injured when we first came in, and Eli and Carlton have done so well, but I think our first home game here, that goal against Norwich, he got things really going for us as well.

"He’s played a really important role, maybe not front and centre that people see, but whenever he’s come on, he’s impacted the game really, really well.

"He had a couple of starts and he was looking good.

"We’re disappointed for him more than anyone, because he’s desperate to play and get a rhythm, but we still hope that he’ll still play a part in this season.

"We’ll be really positive and do everything we can to try and get him back as quickly as possible.”