First Team

Bell out but Brown travels

Team news: Hamstring injury keeps out Bell but Brown in contention to feature on Friday

bell

The Hatters will be without Amari’i Bell for Friday’s trip to Plymouth Argyle but manager Rob Edwards confirmed that forward Jacob Brown will travel south with the squad.

A hamstring problem is likely to rule the Jamaican defender out for a number of weeks, according to the boss.

“It’s really disappointing and frustrating for Amari’i and for us,” Edwards said at his Thursday press call.

“He’s a big player for us and gives us real scope to change things, even with the same personnel on the pitch with where he can play. Of course, for us we want to be able to select our best players of which he’s one.”

Having recovered from a knee injury that has kept him out since our 4-4 draw at Newcastle last February, Brown comes into contention for the televised clash at Home Park.

The Town will, however, be without midfielder Shandon Baptiste who, despite being back in training and closer to fitness, won’t be fit to face the Pilgrims.

Defender Daiki Hashioka is also making good progress but, like Baptiste, will not be ready to feature.

Despite those knocks, the Hatters remain in good shape squad-wise with Edwards happy with the options available to him.

“Compared to last season, where we were down to the bare bones and chucking players back in straight away, it’s great now to be able to make decisions and have selection headaches,” said the manager.

“We want to make difficult decisions. We have a strong group and at the moment it means we’re leaving one or two players off the bench. We have plenty of options from the bench and a positive one too, which we had last week.

“We were pleased with the impact the substitutes against Sheffield Wednesday made, and it’s certainly giving us food for thought – and that’s what we want – players giving us hard decisions to make.”

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