Harford and Collins thrilled as Hylton finds the net again

Luton chief Mick Harford was overjoyed to see striker Danny Hylton on target for the first time in over four months at the weekend.
Danny Hylton celebrates his goal against Rochdale on SaturdayDanny Hylton celebrates his goal against Rochdale on Saturday
Danny Hylton celebrates his goal against Rochdale on Saturday

The forward, whose last goal came back in October, found the net from close range to end his barren run with a sixth of the season against Rochdale, heading home after Elliot Lee hit the bar.

Harford said: “I’m thrilled for Danny. We believe in Danny, he’s a goalscorer, he’s a nuisance, we all make mistakes, he made a couple of mistakes, but he keeps going.

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“He’s at it all the time, I thought he was excellent and I’m absolutely thrilled he’s got his goal, absolutely delighted for him.”

There was genuine warmth towards Hylton from his team-mates after he had opened the scoring, as strike partner James Collins knows all too well about the frustrations of not finding the net.

He said: “Of course I do, every striker goes through it.

“I felt for him the last few weeks, he beats himself up like anyone else does, and he wants to do well for the team and himself.

“That’s all you need as a striker, when you’ve been out injured and you come back in the team and you just want to get that goal.

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“It doesn’t matter how it goes in, and sometimes the easiest ones are the hardest ones.

“But I’m delighted for Danny to get his goal because he’s been working so hard.

“He’s such an honest player for the team and the goal was needed, because we’d missed so many chances leading up to it, we needed someone like Danny to break the deadlock.

“I just said to him he deserves that and I’m really delighted for him, and that’s the truth, because the more goals we can have in this team, the quicker we can get where we want to be.”

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Hylton himself added: “He’s (Collins) a forward, so he knows, he’s probably gone a period of time in his career where he’s gone a few games without scoring, so he was delighted for me.

“He knows how important goals are for forwards and when you get that first one you just relax a little bit and things just start going in, you don’t think about everything.

“He was happy for me, but the main thing is the result, another game, tick that one off, three more points to where we want to get to.”