Adebayo determined to show Hatters boss he deserves to play

Town striker Elijah Adebayo is determined to keep on showing boss Nathan Jones that he deserves to be starting after scoring on his full debut for the club during Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw against Millwall.

The deadline day signing from Walsall became only the second recognised forward to score for the Hatters this season when controlling Ryan Tunnicliffe’s cross at the far post and then rolling an effort under the dive of Lions keeper Bartosz Bialkowski with 10 minutes gone in the second half.

Adebayo had replaced James Collins in the starting line-up, the only other striker to find the net this term, with 10 to his name, and knows it will be a real challenge to keep the Irish international out of the side going forward.

When asked about his efforts to remain in the side, the 23-year-old said: “It’s just about building and keep showing him (Jones) that I deserve to play, that’s not only in games but in training.

“I’ve got to be on it every single day to show him that I can do this week in week out, but it’s healthy competition.

“Me and Collo have been speaking, we know it’s going to be tough, a battle for one place as we play one upfront, so it’s a good healthy competition and I’m ready for it.”

Jones himself was impressed by his new addition’s efforts both in the game and since arriving at the club, although wasn’t looking to go too overboard just yet, saying: “Without being disrespectful, where he’s come from, to step up to the Championship level is going to take time.

"We’re very happy with him though, we felt he was ready to start.

“We gambled a lot the other day in terms of team selection as Joe (Morrell) hasn’t played for a little while, (it was) against a very direct side, which doesn’t suit Joe’s game.

“So, we had to be brave in that, in terms of getting on the ball, and we were.

“We’ve got people playing in makeshift positions all over the pitch, so it shows we’ve got a real honest, good group and Elijah’s exactly the same.

“Elijah needs work and to get to the finished article will be a while yet, but we’re very pleased and for him to get a goal was doubly pleasing.”

The Hatters are back at home this afternoon against second bottom Sheffield Wednesday who are nine points below them in the table.

A victory for Luton would give their already decent chances of staying up another real boost and end a run of four matches at Kenilworth Road without victory.

The forward knows the magnitude of the contest and insists the players can put the crushing disappoint of the midweek draw behind them, with Luton conceding a stoppage time equaliser, as he added: “The gaffer said he was gutted for us as we’ve defended for 95 minutes of the game, battled, won headers, played when we needed to play and then conceding in the last minute is obviously gutting for the boys and everyone.

"We know that we should have won the game and you can see from the faces of the boys in there, we know we should have three points, but we pick ourselves up and we move on to Saturday’s game.

“It’s a massive game, like every other game this season is massive.

"We know that we need to get points as well as the performance being good.

"We know that if we perform well we’ll definitely create chances to get goals, so it’s about moving on and everyone being ready for the next game.

"The games are coming thick and fast, we know that, we’re going to need everyone in the squad in order to definitely reach our goal and stay up.”