Hatters midfielder Glen Rea is out for the season

The 24-year-old went off during the 2-0 win over Burton before Christmas, with the Luton manager confirming the severity of his injury recently.

When asked if it meant he was expected to miss the rest of the campaign, Jones said: “It probably will be as we won’t rush those injuries.

"Even if we’ve got the potential to rehab it and the potential for him to be out for a few months, six to eight weeks, long term, I’m not sure that’s the right thing to do.

“So we’ll do the right thing, it’s a blow as he’s been outstanding for us, but it’s just a hiccup in Glen’s career.

“It’s a partial tear of his cruciate, so we have to treat it with the respect and the timeframe that it does.

“What is important is it’s not a bad one in terms of other factors in the knee, it’s a clean one.

“It’s a real freak accident really, he will be out for a significant period, but he’ll come back and because of the man he is, he’s got the best chance possible of it not affecting his long term career, which is good.

“We won’t rush him, we won’t do anything to jeapordise that and we’ll make sure he gets the best treatment as we care about him.”

On how Rea, who has been a first team regular this term, making 27 appearances, scoring once, has taken the news that his season is over, Jones added: “It’s his life, anyone who gets a serious injury, it’s tough, it’s not a good thing.

“But he’s got good people around him, got a real good stability around him in terms of people, so he’ll be fine.

“Some days it takes the initial thing to get over, then once you get your head around it, you work it.