Mullins knows competition is red hot now Sheehan is back

The summer signing from Bradford City was brought straight back into the team to partner Mullins at the expense of club captain Scott Cuthbert on Saturday.

It was a move that didn’t pay off though as Luton fell to a 2-1 defeat to Grimsby Town, with the defence at fault for both of the Mariners goals.

On the return of Sheehan, Mullins said: “Me and Sheez have played with each other in pre-season a lot, he’s come back from injury and he’s an excellent player, got a wand of a left foot.

“Scotty has been excellent when he’s been in and there’s three centre halves that can play when called upon so competition is rife and as I’ve said before, you have to be at it to keep your shirt.

“Defensively we’re disappointed though as we’ve conceded two goals, but we’ll come in on Monday, look at it, and wipe ourselves down and go again.”

When asked about his choice to bring back Sheehan in place of Scott Cuthbert, despite Town’s club captain making an impressive start to the season, boss Nathan Jones added: “It’s a big decision and one of the most difficult ones I’ve had to make.

“But I felt it was right in terms of the balance and until I watch the video I won’t know if it was a good decision or a bad one.

“But we weren’t at it, we didn’t defend well enough, didn’t have an intensity about us, because they weren’t great goals from our point of view.

“A scruffy one the first one, a tap in and the other a counter attack that we’ve worked on as we know they’re a counter attacking side as well.”

“To allow him a free header, not even a clean header, they’re bad goals to give away from us. But all credit to them, they came, they did a job and I can’t not say that they deserved to win.”