Whalley and Lawless absence leaves Still pondering what might have been

Whalley, who has been starting to show signs of his pre-season potential missed out with a hamstring injury, while Lawless is yet to regain full fitness too after a series of niggles.

Still said: “Whalley is a blow as he’s just hit a bit of form.

“He hurt his hamstring a little bit in training, it’s not terrible, just a bit where probably next week he’ll be okay.

“It’s one of those things where if we try it and it doesn’t work he’ll be out for two or three weeks and I don’t want to do that.

“In the wide positions we didn’t have someone in the team who could go past someone on the outside.

“Shaun can do that, Alex Lawless can do that. Unfortunately those two people are in the same position, so that was a little bit disappointing as it was a day when you could have got it to someone to go past someone.

“Jake (Howells) is a different player, he plays out wide, but doesn’t go past people, he keeps the ball better. That little bit of width from Shaun or Alex might have been key for us, but it didn’t and it wasn’t and it isn’t and that’s it.”

Led superbly by Steve McNulty, Hatters’ defensive solidity was back once more, as goalkeeper Mark Tyler only had one save of note to make in the final minute.

That meant Town recorded successive clean sheets and their 10th in 18 games this season, with Still praising Scott Griffiths for his display too.

He added: “Scotty missed out last week, but I thought it was one of Scott Griffiths’ best performances, I really did.

“The back four looked solid, the midfield worked really hard, Paul Benson played the lone striker in difficult conditions.

“That’s two (clean sheets) on the trot away from home and I’m absolutely delighted for the players against a side that’s going very well themselves.”

For all the latest Luton Town FC news, reports, stats, player profiles, live match updates, MOM poll, prediction table and a complete fixture list, visit our Hatters Microsite.