Respectful Morris reveals why he didn't celebrate Norwich winner after Canaries helped him through 'darkest time'

Match-winner Carlton Morris revealed being supported through his toughest time as a footballer was behind the lack of celebration when scoring what turned out to be the only goal of the game for Luton in a 1-0 win at Norwich City last night.

The 26-year-old had joined the academy at Carrow Road when aged 11 and after progressing through the ranks, was part of the Canaries side, along with ex-Hatter Cameron McGeehan that won the FA Youth Cup back in 2013, beating Chelsea 4-2 on aggregate.

Penning a pro contract in 2016, Morris made his Norwich debut in the 1-0 Championship defeat at home to Wigan Athletic in March 2015, replacing Nathan Redmond for the final 13 minutes.

That was to be his one and only senior appearance though. as despite making four outings in the Checkatrade Trophy for the U23s in 2016, he spent the majority of time out on loan at Oxford, York, Hamilton, Rotherham, Shrewsbury and MK Dons, before Barnsley signed him permanently in January 2021.

During that time, Morris missed the whole of the 2018-19 season after suffering an ACL injury when playing for Shrewsbury in their play-off final 2-1 defeat to Rotherham at Wembley which kept him out for a sustained period of time.

It was with the Canaries that he did his recovery though, which is why when he found the corner of the net on Tuesday night for a seventh of the campaign, there was a distinct lack of emotion shown on the forward’s face, as speaking afterwards, said: “I spent a whole year doing rehab here, so I've got a close relationship with a lot of the lads here.

“It was good to see them tonight but once you cross that white line there’s no friends, it’s business time.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for this club. In my darkest time as a footballer when I did my ACL rehab they had my back and that is not something you forget.”

Morris’s chance when it came was by no means a gimme either, as with Luton winning the ball back on the halfway line, through Harry Cornick first and then Allan Campbell, when Morris received the ball, he still had plenty to do to even get into the area.

Once he powered away from his markers, he faced up the experienced Grant Hanley and after defeating him with a number of quickfire stepovers, curled the ball around Angus Gunn and into the bottom corner.

Morris admitted it was a trick he had worked on after it failed to come off at the weekend, saying: “It’s something I try.

"I did it on the weekend against QPR and the defender fell over, but he blocked it when he was falling down on the floor.

"So I was watching those clips the other day and I thought there was other ways I could have gone about that.

"If I’ve done him, he’s gone on the floor, chop back in and go on the left foot.

"But tonight, thankfully it opened up a gap for me to hit the target.”

Town scoring from such a counter-attack was something that definitely pleased boss Nathan Jones too, who added: “It is a quality finish, but we’re brave, we leave two up.

“We know we counter, the others work and defend well, are organised behind the ball, we pressed at the right times, we come out of holes, we don’t give people anything.

"We’re aggressive in terms of what we do and then we know we have a counter threat and that’s what we did and I’m so, so happy for the boys for the shift that they put in.”