Luton Town manager Nathan Jones has told his fringe players that they are "still key" members of his squad despite a lack of game time so far. 

One of those is Tom Lockyer, who has had limited game time so far this season and has been left 'unsure' of how much he will get following their League Cup exit to Newport County.

The Welsh international spoke in the week about his frustration at the first round loss to the Exiles potentially hindering his chances of breaking back into the side over the coming weeks, with reduced opportunities to stake his claim.

Lockyer has played 57 games for the Hatters since signing from Charlton in 2020 but only played in four of their last 12 matches last season, while finding himself on the bench for the playoff games as well.

This has led to Jones telling media that the game time will come for his fringe players, as he told Luton Today: "As long as their character and their attitude is good then it’s brilliant.

“I thought Tom was excellent the other night in terms of how he played. It’s not so much forcing his way in, Tom will play a number of games here. We have five centre-halves for three positions. "Tom will play, he has played one in the first three, at the minute he’s at just over 33 per cent and he obviously wants that to go up but he will play a number of games because he’s important to us and he is a key member of the squad. “He will just have to understand the process." The Verdict It's understandable that Lockyer will be frustrated by the lack of game time considering his squad absence last season. However, it is early in the campaign and there ares till plenty of games to be played. With the World Cup coming up, it means fixture congestion will be a huge hindrance so having a big squad will mean time gets shared on the pitch amongst Jones' players. Sure, if the attitude does change, Jones will move players on as he has done in the past.