Jones believes one goal will set Marriott off again

Hatters boss Nathan Jones believes striker Jack Marriott needs just one goal to get him up and running again this season.
Town striker Jack MarriottTown striker Jack Marriott
Town striker Jack Marriott

The 22-year-old has only scored five times in the league so far out of his tally of nine in all competitions, and has gone 14 appearances without finding the net, last managing to do so in the 2-1 win at Crewe on January 14.

Marriott’s last home league strike was way back in September against Doncaster too, although Jones believes that should the former Ipswich man net once, the confidence which saw him finish as the club’s top scorer last term will come flooding back.

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He said: “I think goalscorers are like that. It’s a cliche but people score in runs, they get one and go through that.

“The good ones score regularly and continue their runs regularly, you look at (Sergio) Aguero’s and people like that, they don’t tend to go many without scoring, but goalscorers sometimes just go on little runs.

“He (Marriott) started superbly well and then obviously, he’s not been as productive lately as he has.

“But it’s still minimum of seven games to go. Jack needs to focus and he’s been sharp in training.

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“We had a little practice match on Tuesday, he scored two in that, so he’s not a million miles away. It’s a confidence thing at times, he only needs to hit the target once and away we go.”

Since the 4-0 win at Yeovil, Luton have managed just three goals in five games, and could go into tomorrow’s clash against Blackpool without either of their top scorers in Danny Hylton (hamstring) and Cameron McGeehan (leg).

The pair have managed over half of Town’s league tally this season, scoring 29 out of the 56 goals, and Jones knows that sharing the responsibility has been an issue at times, adding: “Isaac (Vassell) has stepped up and scored goals, so we’ve had goalscorers at times, but what we would like is that they’re all flying at the same time.

“So that whenever we bring people off the bench they’re scoring, they’re starting they’re scoring, we’re able to rest a couple and the ones that come on are scoring.

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“It’s not quite been like that, we’ve missed Cameron’s goals, in terms of nicking goals, and winning games.

“We haven’t been a million miles away recently and if we’d taken chances, it’s just fine margins.

“What we have to do is keep slightly more clean sheets and then have a more clinical edge to us, but we’re in a good place and we can’t throw it away.”