Cornick eager to thank Luton's backroom staff for their help in getting him fit to score winner at Swansea

Hatters attacker Harry Cornick was eager to thank the club’s backroom staff for the role they played in getting him in the position to be able to score the winner at Swansea City last night.

The 26-year-old had begun the season in fine form, scoring seven goals in 21 outings, easily surpassing last years tally of just the one and closing in on his best ever haul of nine, managed in Luton’s first campaign back in the second tier.

However, following the 2-1 defeat at Cardiff on November 27, the former Bournemouth winger wasn’t seen again until the weekends 0-0 draw with Blackburn Rovers when he came off the bench for the final 20 minutes.

The same happened again on Tuesday, Cornick introduced for Fred Onyinedinma a little earlier this time, just after the hour mark, as part of a double change that saw Cameron Jerome replace Danny Hylton.

The two then combined nine minutes later for the only goal, Jerome taking Alan Campbell's clever header in his stride to tee up Cornick who slammed home his eighth of the season.

When asked exactly why he had been kept out for so long, Cornick said: “It was a grade three gastroc (gastrocnemius) tear, which is quite bad.

"It was eight to 10 weeks, and I came in the next day and said 'in about two weeks I’ll be back'.

"But I was in a boot not being able to walk for about three weeks, I was on crutches at Christmas, so it’s been a long process but I’ve stuck with it and I'm reaping the rewards now.

"So thankyou to everyone behind the scenes who got me back here as if I didn’t work so hard with them then I wouldn't be here now.

“I just did it in training, we were doing one v ones, attack v defence and I got paired with Kal Naismith.

"It’s credit to him that I've had to tear my calf to try and take him on, that’s how hard I’ve got to go to get past him as he’s such a top player.

"I’ve torn my calf trying to take him on, so I’m not doing that again.

“Two months was a long time though, it was no fun sitting in there watching the boys getting results and Eli (Adebayo) scoring as well, that wasn’t nice.”

The fact that Cornick was able to get out on to the Swansea.com stadium was down to hard work not just himself but the unsung heroes at Kenilworth Road, who he wanted give a moment of glory too.

He continued: "I’m getting there, it was a long process, I’ve got to thank a lot of people, I could be here for a few minutes.

"But Chris (Phillips), Si (Simon Parsell), Daz (Darren Cook) at the start, when I first got injured I was proper low.

"I was sad, I was upset, and they were the ones who I first went to with the rehab that proper got around me, made sure that I was doing all my little bits and making sure I was working hard.

"So massive credit to those guys for getting me back fit.

"Then coming back to full fitness when I’ve got to work outside and getting close to training but not quite there, with Elliot Plant in the gym whose worked me tirelessly to make me strong.

"Cam who I'm working with outside whose making me do all the runs, then Jaz (Jared Roberts-Smith) whose said 'make sure you give me a shout out tonight.'

"He’s been excellent with me, the whole team behind the scenes that you don’t see on a game day or you don't hear about, they work so tirelessly for this club and they're the reason why we’re here where we are.

"As everyone works so tirelessly from the very backroom staff to the people you see when the gaffer’s jumping in the crowd.”

When the chance arose, despite Cornick having not scored since early November in the 3-1 win over Middlesbrough and being on the sidelines, he showed he has lost none of his confidence, tucking it away first time, admitting there was never any doubt in his mind where it was going.

He said: "Natural instinct, I work on that one every day in training with Chris Cohen.

"As soon as it goes into that position, that’s what I’m doing, I’m going across goal every time and to be fair, Chris has been brilliant with me, allowing me to do all the extras in training, so to get me back sharp again.

“Thank you to him (Jerome) too. I just said to him, 'thanks for the goal and I’ll get you back.;"

"He was excellent tonight, he came on, me and him came on, we knew what we had to do.

"The two lads who started, Fred and Hylts, they've worn their defence out, they've worked tirelessly for the first 60, 70 minutes, and they've made our job a bit easier.

"So thank you to those two who started and all four of us have worked hard, so happy days."

Boss Nathan Jones was thrilled to have one of his main goal threats back as well, especially with Elijah Adebayo still missing due to his hamstring problem.

He added: "What a way to win a game, but that's what you have to have.

"We have to be disciplined, Cameron couldn’t really play again, we had Danny, we had Fred up there who toiled away.

"They really worked hard first and then we bring the game-changers on.

"It’s great to have Harry back, that will do him the world of good, just a magnificent away performance, it really is."