Tom Lockyer returns for Luton Town victory after cardiac arrest

Luton Town captain Tom Lockyer returned to Kenilworth Road in time to watch his side run out 4-0 winners over Brighton.

Lockyer, 29, spent five days in hospital following his cardiac arrest at Bournemouth on 16 December.

He returned to his home ground in Bedfordshire in time to see his side climb out of the Premier League relegation zone.

Luton chief executive Gary Sweet said he "genuinely thought we'd lost" Lockyer on the day of his collapse.

Lockyer returned to the club's Brache HQ on Monday, in a visit that brought "a tear to everybody's eye", Sweet said.

"He's such a solid, sound, brilliant man; so humble and everybody cares so much about him," he said.

"We're not thinking about him and football, we're thinking about him and his health and his family."

Recalling Lockyer's collapse, Sweet said it was "one of the most difficult days of my life".

He said: "When I dashed down from the directors' box to the tunnel, I actually genuinely thought we'd lost him... but thanks to the miracle work of our own medical team - doctor, physios - they had to follow a process and if it wasn't perfect we would have lost him, and they were perfect."

He praised the work of Bournemouth's medical team and paramedics, adding: "To get him back around within the three minutes was astonishing."

"He was lucky to have the best people around him to bring him back. It was a horrific week following that."

He said it "pulled" the club together and brought "us a bit closer together".

Sweet said Lockyer was now in "good shape".

Lockyer previously collapsed in the Championship play-off final in May when he suffered atrial fibrillation, a condition the NHS describes as causing "an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate".

The Welsh international was given the all-clear to return to playing in June following heart surgery, but suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed in the 59th minute of the Bournemouth game.

Both sets of players were taken off the pitch as he received medical treatment, later having an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) device fitted.

The game at Vitality Stadium was eventually abandoned with the score at 1-1 and will be replayed in full at a later date.

Rob Edwards, the club's manager, said no timescale had been placed on Lockyer's potential return to action.

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