Smith will be a huge miss for Hatters

Boss John Still confirmed Smith had broken his tibia and fibula in the horror tackle that saw Jon Nurse sent off in the 2-1 victory at Barnet on Boxing Day.

Smith was set to have it ‘plated and pinned’ as he had an operation on Friday and his team-mates are now targeting the Skrill Premier title in his honour.

Striker Paul Benson, who played with him previously at Swindon, said: “I was only saying Saturday how I thought Smudge was our most important player and how I think he’s been our player of the season.

“So I’m going to make no bones about it, for me he’s our player of the season and I think we will do well to replace him.

“You need players like him in your team if you’re going to win leagues.

“He’s the driving force behind our play and he’s our heartbeat, so whoever steps into his role has got a hell of a job to do.

“As you’ve seen previous games against Wrexham and Staines we’ve got players who can do it, so it’s time for them to step up now.”

Benson wants to repay Smith for his efforts by winning the title, as he continued: “That would be perfect. Obviously when you win leagues you do it for a lot of people.

“We’ve got god knows how many Luton fans we’re going to try and win the league for, but if Smudgie misses out for the rest of the season now, then it’s another one to add to the numbers we want to win this league for.”

Skipper Ronnie Henry has backed the 27-year-old to come back even stronger from his setback too.

He said: “In the dressing room you could see the lads were down for him and we will miss him because he’s a good lad and a great player.

“He will be back stronger and be back fitter with Simon (Parsell), he’s a top physio.”

Both have known Nurse for some time and were adamant there was no malice in his challenge.

Benson said: “It’s a tough one. It’s not nice to see, you don’t like to see that on a pitch.

“Fortunately for me I’ve known them both for a long time. I’ve know Smudgie for a few years now and on the flipside of it I’ve know Nursey for a very long time.

“Both are top lads, both great professionals, great people and that makes it a little bit worse for me because obviously Smudger doesn’t deserve this and I don’t think Nursey deserves to be on the end of that.

“It wasn’t the best of tackles, but you see them quite a lot in games and it was just a little bit late.

“The boys are thinking about Smudgie, but I don’t think that’s any reason for us not to be on it second half to be honest.

“We should have gone out and been on it even more for Smudgie, and I can’t really use that as an excuse for our second half performance.”

Henry added: “It’s one of them unfortunate ones really, it’s terrible. I’ve known Nursey for a long time, I’ve played with him and he’s not really like that.

“My thoughts are with Jonathan and I know all the lads are and hopefully he will make a speedy recovery.

“He’s a strong lad and he’s a fit lad and he’s dedicated, so he’ll be OK. He’s in the best possible hands with the physios here so it’s one of them things that happen.”

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