Hatters boss Graeme Jones was pleased to report he has a near fully-fit squad ahead of Tuesday night’s Sky Bet Championship match against Derby County.
With the exception of Brendan Galloway, all first team players have been in full training today as Town prepare to face a Rams side who are currently unbeaten in five league matches.
“Izzy Brown has trained now for the last seven days, he played in an in-house game last Thursday. Callum McManaman is back from injury, Martin Cranie trained with the group for the first time today.
“Danny Hylton has been fit since the start of January, but we have to follow a programme with Danny, so even though it looks like he has been fit for four weeks, within that it’s a programme – he works two days, rests one and it has worked so far.
“He looks like he is getting stronger, but obviously he hasn’t had minutes on the pitch, but the first step is to have everybody available, obviously Martin has had one training session today, apart from Brendan Galloway we have got a clean bill of health.
“Absolutely [it’s positive news]. There comes a point where we wanted help [bringing in extra bodies] in the transfer market, so far we haven’t. The most important thing was getting everybody back fit and available for the run in. We’re still obviously going to have to be well-measured with the boys who are coming back, with their minutes. The last thing we want is a re-injury. But it’s still a real positive that we have got everybody available.”
With the transfer window closing this Friday, Jones spoke of the club’s efforts to get players through the door with Championship experience, but at this moment in time it is proving difficult to do so.
“I hope so, obviously from the outset we’ve said that we need help in a couple of positions and we are still trying,” the gaffer continued. “But we wont have any for Tuesday.
“It is yes [proving hard to get players with Championship experience]. We’re trying our best, there is still four or five days left, but with the restrictions we have got financially it’s not been straightforward. If you’re a super rich club in this league you can cherry-pick. We have to think a little bit differently, so far to no avail.”