Cornick hungry to get his starting place back in the Town team

Town attacker Harry Cornick is hungry to earn his place back in the Hatters starting line-up after having to make do with a role on the bench in recent weeks.

The 26-year-old hasn’t been in from the first whistle for the last five games, coming off the bench in four of them, although he did miss the stunning 1-0 win over Watford due to a slight injury.

That makes it just six starts in Town's last 15 league outings, as he has appeared from the bench at various stages of the second half in all but the Hornets victory.

Cornick had a huge impact when brought on at Bristol City on Sunday, netting his first goal of the season, a strike which turned out to be the winner in a 3-2 success, as although the forward wants to feature, he isn't holding any grudges against those chosen ahead of him, saying: “I’m always hungry to play and I think there’s such a good squad at this club that you know you’re not going to start every game for the whole season.

“People are going to come in and out and there’s so many talented players on our team that you know you’re not going to start every game.

“There’s people that fans haven’t seen, I was speaking to the young lad Dion (Pereira) and I was saying to him, ‘you’re so talented, you’re doing so well in training, you’re going to get your chance’, and I can see him playing before the end of the season.

“I want to play, everyone wants to play, we’ve got so many good players that we’re all pushing each other to improve, as we want to play and that’s testament to the squad we’ve got here and the characters.

“There’s no bad blood because Kaz (Kazenga LuaLua) and Eli (Elijah Adebayo) and Clicker (Jordan Clark) are starting and me, George Moncur and Collo (James Collins) are on the bench, we want them to do well, they’re pushing us to do well and we’re pushing them to do well.

“So we’re happy for each other to play and we want the whole team to succeed first before individuals.”

Cornick has been having a major impact when used as a substitute in recent weeks too, as having come on at half time in three of the last four games, it has led to the Town twice turning losing positions into winning ones.

It was the same against Sheffield Wednesday as well back in February, with Cornick setting up Adebayo for the winner that day, while he also delivered the cross for Luton's in-form striker to make it 3-1 at Wycombe Wanderers.

The former Bournemouth winger said: “Every time he (Nathan Jones) puts me on the bench I come on at half time.

"It was Sheffield Wednesday, 2-0 down, came on and won 3-2, Wycombe, 1-0 down, came on and won 3-1 and then the other day (Bristol City).

"So maybe I should just sit on the bench, come on at half time and we’ll win the game, that's our new game-plan!

“But we always know we can get back into games, once we got that first goal (on Sunday), I always thought we were going to go on and win the game.

“Bringing me and James on is a good change of plan and to have me, him and Eli playing on the same pitch as a three it’s quite effective, quite a dangerous three, you always know you’re going to get chances.

"For me personally, it’s such a good thing to have those two big meatheads in the middle, knowing that I can just get a cross in there and I’ve got them charging in, heading it in.

"So it's a good plan B almost to have in a game and it showed on Sunday.”

Cornick has been joined on the bench by top scorer James Collins in recent weeks too, the forward beginning just two of Luton's last 13 fixtures.

He has come into some form though, with three goals in his last five outings, including getting Town back in the game on Sunday, glancing home Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's inswinging corner to make it 2-1.

It was of no surprise to Cornick, who added: "You know one thing with Collo you’re going to get goals.

"He’s a goalscorer, he does it in training every day, it’s just what he does.

"He hasn’t played maybe as much as he wanted to recently, but you know when he’s on the pitch he’s going to get a chance and when he gets a chance, he’ll always take it.

"He’s been such a good servant for this club, the amount of goals he scores and big goals he scores when the pressure’s on.

"You look at Watford the other day, he came straight on, took the penalty, scored, and there was no doubt, I never for a second thought he was going to miss.

"I always know if there’s a chance in the box or the ball’s in the box, he’s going to get on the end of it and he's going to be the one putting it in the back of the net, that’s the sort of player he is.

"I think he’s been brilliant for us this year and he’s got 13, 14 goals including Preston.

"He just loves scoring goals and that’s what he does, we’ll give him the Preston goal too."