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LUTON boss Rob Edwards has warned against expecting too much from Zimbabwe captain and midfielder Marvelous Nakamba after he made his first start in over eight months when playing against QPR in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.
The 30-year-old had featured 13 times in the top flight for Town last term before suffering a serious knee injury during training which meant he didn’t play again for the Hatters after the 2-1 home defeat to Manchester City on December 10.
He has since recovered from the injury but was a notable omission from the Zimbabwe squad announced by Warriors coach Michael Nees this week for the two 2025 AFCON qualifying matches against Kenya and Cameroon.
After finally getting in a position where he could feature again, Edwards confirming he could be involved against the QPR, it was a huge boost for the 1 000 travelling fans to see him named in the starting line-up at Loftus Road.
Despite such a lengthy absence, Nakamba looked incredibly classy from the word go, demonstrating just what the Hatters have been missing, breaking up play as he did so often when starring in the Championship as Town won promotion to the Premier League in the 2022-23 campaign, also displaying some real class on the ball to pick out his teammates, with a success rate of 93.3 percent from the 30 passes he attempted.
Understandably, the Zimbabwean international didn’t reappear for the second period, replaced at the break in a pre-planned switch, as Luton didn’t look quite so dominating in the centre of the park when he was off the pitch.
Despite his stand-out display, Edwards called for caution over expecting too much straight away from the former Aston Villa midfielder, as asked about Nakamba’s impact, he said:
“There’s bits there where he needs work, he’s still not fit yet, that’s understandable, he’s been out for so long.
“Some of the presses he was just off and I don’t think people should expect too much too soon. We’ll see how his knee reacts now to this, so don’t have people thinking that’s it, he’s in for Friday (tonight’s Championship clash against QPR) now, that will be too soon.
“We’ve got to manage him in the right way, but it was nice to have him out there of course.” — Sports Reporter/Luton Today.
Online Reporter