Pearson always had the Championship in mind when signing for Town

Defender Matty Pearson always had a return to the Championship on his mind when agreeing to join Luton back in the summer of 2018.

The 27-year-old dropped down from Barnsley, who were a league higher than the Hatters at the time, making it back to the second tier at the first attempt, Luton winning the League One title, pulling off a great escape last season to ensure they remained in the division, beating Blackburn Rovers 3-2 on the final day.

Pearson has been a big part of Town’s success during his time at Kenilworth Road, completing his 100th game just before the international break when beating Wycombe Wanderers 2-0.

On the milestone and the club's rise up the football echelon, he said: “That’s exactly the reason I came, to get Luton into the Championship.

“I didn’t come here to try and stay in League One, obviously you want to get as high up as possible and that was always the plan.

“I didn’t come here to try and settle, I came here to try and push forward myself and get the club forward as well.

“The manager went through it all with me, I was at Barnsley in the Championship, they went down that year.

“I wanted to play every game and get back up to that league and I'd like to think I’ve done alright.

“It’s gone pretty quick, it’s good for any player to get to 100 games and especially for a club like Luton.

"The last few years have been so successful, I’m made up and just hope for a load more.

“Two years has flown by, an eventful two years too.

"The first year getting into the Championship and then staying in the Championship, so I couldn't have asked for a better two years really.”

Pearson is one of nine players to have made over 100 appearances now, with Sonny Bradley set to join him this weekend as well to make it a round 10.

On the continuity within the squad, he continued: “I think there’s a few players in our team around my age who have all played a good amount of games, it’s only going to benefit us.

“We’ve all been there, done that, we’ll never come up against a team where we’ve never been in that situation.

“Luke Berry’s similar to me, we’ve all gone through the leagues together, we've been against each other all the time.

"The likes of me, Bez, Locks (Tom Lockyer), we’ve all played lower leagus and we’ve all been there and seen what it’s about, now we’re in our peak and going for the highest level we can.

"At Accrington you don’t get much and then you come here and everything is on a plate for you.

"You can't let up these opportunities, you have to take them with both hands.

"I think a lot of players in our team have played over 300 games too, I don’t think in many teams that would be the case.

"Keeping the group of us together, all playing 100 games for Luton, it shows we have a togetherness and I don’t see why we cant keep going and achieve more."

When asked for a favourite match during his two years with Town, Pearson said: “There’s a few. Sunderland, I enjoyed scoring in my second game but I’d probably say Southend away in my first season.

“I scored the winner to go top of the league and then we didn’t move, we stayed top of the league the whole time.

“We won the league so that was probably my best game but there has been a few, especially the Blackburn game (3-2 win), even though I didn’t really play.

"I came on for 10 minutes but that is one as well as just the memories you get from it are unbelievable."

Pearson has been virtually an ever-present in that time, starting 101 of his 102 appearances in total, which is something he was looking to do when agreeing to leave Barnsley.

He continued: “That was one of the reasons I came, I can’t be one of these players that sits around and not really play.

"Once that happens, I’ll probably try and move on and try and play elsewhere.

"I just want to play here, play as many games as I can, try and get Luton as high as I can, and the better I do, the better the team does, the better the club does.

"We’re all in it together and trying to strive for obviously the dreamland which is promotion from the Championship.”

One reason that Pearson has been able to play so much is his fine record with injury and suspension, the latter something he has really worked on during the last few years.

During his first full season as pro for Halifax, he was booked 12 times, the following term receiving eight yellows with one red card, then 10, then 11 and another dismissal.

However, since arriving at Luton, he has been cautioned just five times in total, as he said: “When I was 20, I used to get 15 bookings a year, I’ve had to learn that, while with the set-up here, it’s hard to get injured.

“They look after you brilliantly and the training regime is perfect, it’s suited me to a tee.

“Generally I’ve never played a full season at centre-half until I signed for Luton, that’s probably the reason why (he got so many bookings).

“I was always right-back, left-back, centre-midfield, I've been in every position going apart from which is probably my strongest position centre-half.

“Especially at Halifax, I used to play centre-midfield as a young lad, 19, 20-year-old, I used to go round bombing around trying to kill everyone!

“I think changing position, at centre-half you can't kick everyone or you will give away penalties all the time so that’s probably why.”

Now having hopefully established Town back in the Championship once more, Pearson has lofty ambitions for the Hatters before his time with the club is up, adding: “The additions have made us stronger as well, and we’ve got two very strong teams.

“You’ve seen in the Man United (Carabao Cup) game, we made how many changes and any one of those players can step in and be as good as who plays in the league games.

"So we’re all on our toes ready and the squad depth is what we need.

"We don’t play to finish mid-table. Even if we were odds-on favourites to go down or whatever, I’d still be trying to win every game, every ball.

"It’s not a case of settling or just surviving again, there’s no point playing if we just want to settle for mid-table, we want to go all the way and I don’t see why we can’t.

"You cant just settle, we’re there now but we can’t just stop, we’ve got to go again and going again for me is trying to get into the top league.”