Berry happy to see his goalscoring instincts pay off with a maiden Premier League strike

Hatters midfielder Luke Berry was pleased to see his goalscoring instincts come up trumps once more when he bagged a maiden Premier League goal during Luton’s vital 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

The 31-year-old was thrown on with five minutes to go at Kenilworth Road on Saturday, with the instructions to try and hunt out an equaliser and avoid Town falling what would have been a worrying six points behind the Reds in their battle to stay in the top flight this season. Having made a name for himself with that knack of finding the net throughout his lengthy career, it was no surprise to see as Berry managed to do so once more in the final stages as well.

It was an impressive finish too, turning sharply in the box to fire home once Reece Burke knocked down Ross Barkley’s right wing corner, before tearing off to celebrate in front of the Luton supporters, as after a late VAR check for reasons that remained unclear, the goal thankfully stood. With Town scoring late on for the second weekend running to maintain their hopes of staying up alive, Berry said: “It was similar to Palace when we were holding on at times and just sniffing trying to get a chance and we always seem to come up with the goods.

"For me it was just go in there, try and sniff something out and play a little bit higher. I told Ross to go a little bit deeper and for me, just try to sniff something. Thankfully I did from the corner, I'm not normally in there for corners, so it was nice to be in there. I might win a header here or there, but I just knew I was going to sniff something on the floor. I just want to score and help the team really, and It was a bit like the Millwall celebration where I’ve just run to the main stand.

"I didn't actually think about VAR and then they were checking something, I thought what the hell are they checking? That would have been horrible wouldn’t it. I’ve just run off celebrating, but thankfully they gave it. They've always been nuts these fans, they always go mental when you score, even when you’re winning seven-nil in League Two, so it’s the same feeling.”

After opening his account for Luton back in October 2017 when the Hatters were a League Two side, scoring a hat-trick in the 7-1 victory over Stevenage, Berry has now scored 25 goals for the Hatters in all competitions, breaking down as seven in League Two, three in League One, 12 in the Championship and one in the Premier League, also adding two in the FA Cup.

In the 21 fixtures, Town have also never lost when he has found the net, winning 13 and drawing eight, as that run carried on at the weekend, with Berry feeling it was the least Luton deserved for their efforts too, particularly as the manner in which their squad has been decimated by injuries, nine players missing on Saturday, with Alfie Doughty and Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu also forced off. He added: “We are struggling with injuries and it’s just trying to stay within touching distance.

"Gladly we got the point and we’re just three points off. We had to not lose, if we lost that, six points is quite a big amount to come back from. The main thing is making sure we stay in touch with them. Everyone knows you can't be losing, it's a six pointer really. We didn’t get the win, but at least we didn’t lose. We’re leaving with a bit of a spring in our step now, we know we’re going to hopefully get a few people back, strengthen the squad, so hopefully we can bulk up the bench a bit and make it a bit easier for ourselves.”