Hatters boss labels 'crackpot' Lansbury a 'full-time whopper' following ex-Arsenal midfielder's 'outrageous' strike at Hull

Hatters boss Nathan Jones’ labelled goalscorer Henri Lansbury a ‘full-time whopper' after his wonderful strike and ensuing lawnmower celebration against Hull City last night.

With Town 1-0 to the good and the game approaching half-time, City thought they had done enough when clearing their lines from James Bree’s cross, the ball dropping some 35 yards from goal.

However, they hadn’t considered the technique possessed by Luton’s former Arsenal, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa midfielder Lansbury, who without breaking stride, hit a first time daisycutter that barley left shin height, rifling its way into the bottom corner of Nathan Baxter's goal to double Town’s advantage.

He then retrieved the ball from the net and set about to pretend to mow the MKM Stadium playing surface before being engulfed by his team-mates, leading Jones to say in his post match press conference with Sky: "He’s got top end quality, the back end of last season he picked up an injury which curtailed him so he's been a slow starter.

“He has wonderful quality and he has a Grass Gains company that, to be fair, now I’ve give him a shout-out, I expect him to do my back garden.

“He’s a part-time footballer, part-time groundsman, full-time whopper.

“He’s got a business, but he enjoys it.

"When others play golf and other go to Starbucks, or whatever it is, he goes home and mows lawns. He loves it.

"He’s a crackpot anyway, so that’s just part and parcel of it.”

Off the mark on his 42nd appearance for the club, Lansbury, who moved to Kenilworth Road on a free transfer in the summer of 2021 is showing the kind of ability that saw him play 13 times in the top flight during the early days of career, as Jones added: “He’s got that, he doesn’t do it as often, but he has that wonderful, wonderful ability to be able to do that and it’s a fantastic strike.

"We brought him here because we can’t afford Premier League quality and Premier League athleticism, so we always have to compromise on one, and he showed he’s got Premier League quality.

“It’s one of the cleanest strikes you’ll see and he’s had a lot of opportunities.

"He backs up play well, but it’s a wonderful, wonderful strike.

"He’s got that technique, he’s got outrageous quality, so it’s really good that he sealed the win with that today.”