Town chief had wanted to give 'quality' Lansbury his first run-out at Coventry

Town boss Rob Edwards had been hoping to give midfielder Henri Lansbury his first run-out since taking over at Kenilworth Road during Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Coventry City.

The 32-year-old has been restricted to just nine outings this season, and none since the former Forest Green chief took over from Nathan Jones in November, after suffering a serious quad injury against Sunderland back in October.

He was on the bench at the Coventry Building Society Arena at the weekend though, but Edwards just couldn’t find the right time to bring him on such was the end-to-end nature of the second period, as he said: “Henri's another one that's pushed really hard over the last few weeks to be in and around it.

“We’ve still got to get it right for him.

“It was in my mind at some stages at the weekend whether we could get him on.

“The game became a little more basketball-y I thought ‘right, well this is difficult to introduce him straight into.’

“He's out there training and he really does make you think because he's got loads and loads of quality and he gives us something different to, probably, everyone else in the group with his passing range.

“So, it's a real positive to have him knocking around with us again and he's a big personality as well, in a different way to Pottsy (Dan Potts), that the lads look up to.

“He's had a fantastic career and we want him to keep pushing and doing well.

"He certainly wants that as well so I'm really pleased to have him back around it.”

When asked if he thought Lansbury would offer direct competition with his former Aston Villa team-mate, deadline day acquisition Marvelous Nakamba in the holding role, Edwards added: “I also see H as able to operate higher.

"He has done in the past, he's got the quality to play any one of the two or three positions you can have in midfield because he's that good a footballer.

"He's intelligent as well.

"It's similar to what Clicker (Jordan Clark) has been like, Pelly (Mpanzu) has had to play deeper and higher as well.

"If you've got good footballers who are intelligent as well they can play in a number of different positions.”