The midfielder was due to play a part in the 2-1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion Under-21s last week, but picked up the problem in the build up to the match.

Jones said: "Luke has had a bit of a setback. He had a setback in training the other day. He would have played against Brighton, but he had a little setback which required minor surgery, so he's going to be out for the near term.

"It's not a long-term thing, it's just a little procedure, a little clean up in his knee which he needed. Nothing to do with the original injury which is good. It flared up from an old injury from when he had really young.

"It's been unfortunate for him. But he was eight, nine weeks ahead of schedule anyway, this has just put him back on a more realistic time scale for his ankle and then the other thing will heal quite quickly."

The gaffer also revealed the Hatters are still a way off appointing a new assistant manager, with the Welshman ideally wanting somebody who he has worked with before. However, that won't be in the form of Mick Harford who will carry on in his role of Chief Recruitment Officer.

"We're further down the line, whether we're closer to appointing anyone – it's something that we won't rush into, obviously to get the right appointment," the 45-year-old continued.

"We've had a lot of people show interest in the role, but I want somebody I have worked with before, someone I know and someone I can trust. Those are the main things really, because the environment takes care of itself mostly, so there's just certain things that I require.

"It was important that we had as smooth a transition as possible, so we went away and Mick is an important part of what we do. Moving forward, that's not what we're looking to do, there's a job here which we have to get him to do, scouting teams and players, so we can't afford to take him away from that too much. I just felt it was needed last week."

Jones suggested that it had been a difficult week behind the scenes after the Town's defeat to Doncaster Rovers, but he hopes that now the transfer window has closed and the dust has settled slightly after Hart's departure, the Town can continue as normal.

He said: "It had been a tough week in terms of a few things around here that were trying. Obviously we lost Harty and certain other things.

"We had to try and get past the transfer window so were constantly having to work to fend off people and to improve the squad. Now it will hopefully settle down a little bit and we can go from there."

The gaffer hopes to see Danny Hylton back in action this weekend, but will ensure the striker's recovery is put first, rather than needlessly rush him back into first team action.

"He's in a better place then he was last week, that's a good thing, so we will gauge it and see where we are Saturday. He's in a better place, so hopefully we can get him back, sooner rather than later," Jones added.