Luton Town have dipped into the emergency loan market just in time to bring in a new goalkeeper as they look to firm up their Championship play-off spot.
The Hatters have been given special dispensation to sign Hull City stopper Matt Ingram. The 28-year-old joins on an initial seven-day loan and is expected to be given a prompt debut on Bank Holiday Monday, as Town travel to face Fulham.
Ingram was drafted in after a serious knee injury to James Shea recently. That left Harry Isted as the only available replacement but as the 25-year-old is not recognised as a senior stopper - having started just one league game - the Hatters were allowed to bring in a senior replacement. If Ingram does feature at Craven Cottage he will be the sixth different man to don the gloves in the league for them this season.
Shea made 19 league outings prior to his injury - the same number as Simon Sluga before he was sold in January to Ludogorets. Former loanee Jed Steer made just three appearances before he succumbed to injury whilst another loanee, Alex Palmer, featured twice after signing on an emergency loan in March.
A statement on Luton's website said: "We can confirm that goalkeeper Matt Ingram has joined the Hatters on an emergency loan deal. In line with the terms of an emergency loan, Ingram will start as the Hatters head to Fulham tomorrow evening and will wear squad number 27. We would like to welcome Matt to Kenilworth Road and offer a huge thank you to Hull City for their help and understanding in allowing him to join us on loan, which is for an initial seven-day period.”
Luton will guarantee a place in the play-offs with victory against Marco Silva's side. Even if they were to lose, a point on the final day would be enough as long as one of Middlesbrough and Sheffield United fail to win their final game of the season.
Ingram has played 29 times for the Tigers this season but lost his place recently to Chelsea loanee Nathan Baxter. Luton boss Nathan Jones will be hoping his side can finish the job and book their top-six spot. Last week the Welshman was voted Championship Manager of the Year at the EFL awards.
Reflecting on the club's superb season, he says their achievements are all the more remarkable due to their lowly budget and resources. "Structuraly, we are the envy of a lot of football clubs," Jones said to the BBC. "We have no superstars and we have a group of players that want to achieve something - they are nowhere near their ceiling.
"Outside Luton, everyone would have thought this is a huge, huge surprise, that it couldn't be done - but inside we had that confidence that we could push boundaries this year. Ideally everyone would like to do fantastically well without spending a hell of a lot of money. That isn't the case in football on all levels but we do it very well."
