Hatters striker Adebayo hopes Town fans can see he is becoming the player he can be once more

In-form striker Elijah Adebayo hopes that his magnificent form in front of goal is showing the Luton fans that he is returning to the kind of player he knows he can be for the Hatters.

After scoring just three goals in his opening 24 appearances this season, a terrific header in the 3-2 home defeat by West Bromwich Albion last month was just the boost that the former Walsall forward needed.

He went on to score a stoppage time winner at Wigan in the FA Cup, before finding the net when Luton went back to the Latics in the league just a few days later.

Converting a penalty against Grimsby in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday, Adebayo looked to have fluffed his opportunity to extend that run in the midweek clash with Cardiff City, seeing his spotkick saved by Ryan Allsop.

However, there was ultimately to be no denying him, planting a towering header into the roof of the net two minutes left, to make it five goals in his last five games.

Boss Rob Edwards has stated the upturn in form is down to Adebayo upping his work-rate to a new level, as assistant Paul Trollope feels the forward is playing with a smile on his face once more.

The striker himself said: “Since the new management team has come in, I think it’s been a fresh start for all of us.

“For me I know at the beginning of the season it wasn’t quite going my way, but good players have to just dig in and keep going, keep working hard in training and train how you’re going to play on match day.

“I feel like especially from the turn of the year, I hope everyone can see and I definitely feel like I am, I’m not going to say back, but just being the player that I know I’m capable of being.”

Two of Adebayo’s goals have come in the closing stages of the matches, and he believes that shows the kind of never-say-die attitude the squad possesses, continuing: “You’re going to get that with this group of players.

"We keep fighting to the end, always, sometimes it’s not going to be pretty or it might not be how people think it should be, but the boys will keep going.

"Regardless of the minutes, the time, 98 minutes at Wigan, you’re going to keep going and eventually you get your rewards.”

With Edwards now having been in the hot season for over two months, on what kind of effect the former Forest Green chief has had on him already, Adebayo continued: “He’s just come in and told me to express myself, be the player that everyone knows I can be.

"It's not just him, Trolls, Richie (Kyle), they’ve been fantastic.

"I’ve done a lot of work with Trolls in training, finishing, different types of finishes, positing in the box, but all three of them have been fantastic.”

With that in mind, Adebayo's deciding strike against the Bluebirds saw him take up a great position in the centre of the goal, outmuscling his marker to bury Alfie Doughty’s terrific cross.

He added: “That’s the work the management team have been doing with me and Carlton (Morris), just picking up those positions in and around the box, being hard to mark.

"It’s not an ideal position for a defender if he can't see the centre forward.

"So if that ball does arrive, which it probably will more often than not, then you’ll be seeing plenty more goals from me and Carlton, definitely and Cauley (Woodrow) as well.”