Cornick’s confidence boosted by Charlton strike

Luton attacker Harry Cornick took a personal positive from Saturday’s 3-1 reverse at Charlton after he got back in the starting line-up and scored his first goal since December.
Harry Cornick makes it eight for the season on SaturdayHarry Cornick makes it eight for the season on Saturday
Harry Cornick makes it eight for the season on Saturday

The forward missed almost two-and-a-half months of Luton’s record-breaking 28-game League One unbeaten streak – which came to an end at The Valley – after injuring his ankle on New Year’s Day.

He didn’t feature again until March 12 but had to be content with cameos from the substitute’s bench, with the Hatters playing so well.

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He got his chance on Saturday with top scorer and EFL League One Player of the Season James Collins suspended, while Kazenga LuaLua and Danny Hylton were both injured.

It took Cornick just 15 minutes to repay boss Mick Harford when he side-footed into the top corner for his first goal since Boxing Day, taking him to eight for the season.

The 24-year-old said: “It’s a great achievement for me because I’ve been out for so long and it’s been hard not being in the team.

“But when you’re winning games, it has been hard to get back in the team.

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“For me, personally, it was good to get more minutes under my belt and grab the goal, which was massive for me, to get my confidence back up to kick on towards the end of the season and get the team promoted.”

However, things didn’t go to plan for Cornick and Luton as they succumbed to a rampaging second half display by Charlton, which dished out their first league defeat in exactly six months.

He continued: “It’s a feeling we haven’t had in a long, long time.

“We had a chat after the game and it’s about being positive. We’ve been on such a great run that we just need to keep the momentum going and move on to Saturday.

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“The feeling is that we’re gutted that we haven’t picked up any points but I thought we played OK in the first half.

“We can’t be disheartened because the run we’ve been on shows us that we are one of the best teams in the league.

“We had a few chances to go two up (in the first half), which would have been massive, but we didn’t take them.

“It’s ifs and buts, but it wasn’t good enough in the second half and we’ve been punished.”