Luton Town Football Club

The Hatters are likely to welcome back left-back Scott Griffiths for Saturday’s Sky Bet League 2 clash with Shrewsbury and boss John Still is expecting recovering midfield duo of Alex Lawless and Jonathan Smith to be back and available for selection - possibly within the next 10 days.

Griffiths missed last weekend’s 2-2 draw at Accrington, whilst Smith and Lawless have not kicked a ball since pre-season.

Lawless picked up a hamstring strain whilst Smith has not be risked as he continues to make progress in his rehabilitation from last season’s leg break.

“Scott should be okay and I think he has been one of best players so far this season,” Still said at his pre-match press conference at Thursday lunchtime.

“We’ve had a few knocks but we’ll know more tomorrow morning. It’s nothing drastic, just people who have missed a little bit of training.

“But we’re at a stage of the season where I’m not going to push someone to play who’s a little bit injured, because they could play one game not quite fit, and then another one and another one.

“If they need to miss a game to be 100 per cent fit then they’ll miss a game.”

Smith is within touching distance of a return, but the boss is keen to ensure that the midfielder and Lawless aren’t rushed back too soon.

“Jonathan is fine, but he’s going through a process and the process finishes today,” explained Still.

“He has a scan and they’ll hopefully say that it’s okay and he can go on. He was allowed to go and play some games, he played a few bits and pieces of games, so they could scan it and review if its made a difference to it.

“He’s done that, now he’s got to wait for this scan and if this scan comes back okay, he should have the all clear to push on.

“He’s trained, it’s the competitive side of the game he’s not been able to do, so it shouldn’t take him long to get up to full speed as it shouldn’t take Alex Lawless as he’s done all the pre-season.

“The fitness is okay, it’s just the sharpness, so it might only be a week, 10 days both of them.”