Blackett left to rue his injury-ridden Hatters spell

A SEEMINGLY never-ending spate of injuries hampered defender Shane Blackett’s time at Luton as he was released from the club last week, writes Mike Simmonds.

After signing from Peterborough in July 2009, he was restricted to just 51 appearances for the club, including a mere 20 in the last two seasons.

He said: “I think injuries played a part since I’ve been at Luton, I’ve had a bit of at terrible time to be honest.

“I had surgery to put right this year what the surgeon did wrong last year and it kept me out for a long period of time.

“The new surgeon said it was never going to get right unless you had this surgery done, so I went under the knife again and since I’ve had it done in December, I’ve been injury free.

“Hopefully the injury worries are behind me now, so I can push on and start playing some good football again and show the real me.

“I didn’t feel like I really got the chance at Luton to show that due to injuries and one thing or another.”

Blackett’s last experience in a Luton shirt, albeit as an unused substitute, came at Wembley last month as Town were beaten in the play-off final by York City.

What made the defeat worse was that Matty Blair’s winner was clearly offside as has been highlighted by a photo doing the rounds on the internet.

Blackett said: “The amount of times people have shown me that picture, you’d think it would get easier for me, but it gets harder.

“It was horrible. At the time we didn’t know, then 10 minutes later someone had seen it on telly, but until they bring in goal-line technology and the like, it’s always going to be that way.

“It was a great experience being out on the pitch at Wembley with 30,000 Luton fans and 9,000 York fans.

“I was disappointed and gutted with the outcome and can’t really say I enjoyed the day to be honest with the result.

“As far as the occasion goes, it was nice for everyone to get down there and support their local team.

“It was a great stage, one of best stadiums in Europe and if they’re there next season, I’ll be one of the supporters.”

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