Bradley: Sky viewers might think I'm a regular goalscorer for Luton!

Town captain gets his third televised strike of the season
Sonny Bradley gets the congratulations after opening the scoring against Huddersfield on Friday nightSonny Bradley gets the congratulations after opening the scoring against Huddersfield on Friday night
Sonny Bradley gets the congratulations after opening the scoring against Huddersfield on Friday night

Sky Sports viewers could well be forgiven for thinking that skipper Sonny Bradley is something of a regular on the scoresheet for the Hatters after he netted yet another goal in front of the cameras on Friday night.

The 28-year-old, who hadn’t scored for Luton in his opening 50 appearances, during the whole of last season’s League One title triumph, was up and running in quite spectacular fashion on the game opening game of the campaign against Middlesbrough way back in August, rifling an unstoppable 25-yard volley into the top corner at Kenilworth Road.

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He was then at it again on New Year's Day, when Sky broadcast the Hatters' 3-1 defeat at Millwall, before rising highest on Friday to power home James Bree’s excellent corner against Huddersfield Town and put the visitors in front just moments after half time.

Elliot Lee then rounded off a wonderful victory with 20 minutes go, as speaking to the press afterwards, Bradley said: “I’m glad you got that in, although I was going to tell you anyway, it’s just a coincidence I think.

"They might do (think I'm a regular scorer) and then they’ll see my record and see I’ve only scored three, but it’s a bit of a coincidence.

“We’ve had maybe four or five game on Sky and I’ve scored in three of them so that’s good.

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“If the next three games, we can get them on Sky as well, I’d be delighted as it means I can score."

Although Bradley's strike looked like a goal straight from the training ground, he admitted that there was a fair degree of fortune in the eventual outcome, continuing: “It’s a great ball in and if I’m being honest, we set up the wrong corner.

“There was three of us doing one thing and three of us doing another.

"The ball was meant to go front post I was told afterwards, but me and Matty (Pearson) say it all the time, if that ball is put into a good area and you’ve got players in the box who want to attack the ball, you've got a chance of scoring.

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"It’s a wonderful ball in, I haven't really ran on to it and attacked the ball, I’ve kind of just stood my ground, stayed strong, got a good contact on it and luckily for me it’s gone in.”

However, boss Nathan Jones was glad to see the efforts of his staff on the training round pay off with Bradley’s header, saying: “It was a real well-worked goal.

"A lot of work went into that in terms of what they do, they moved them out of the centre and then we get our big hitters in the centre of the goal and that's what happens.

“So credit to our staff there in terms of identifying that, as we earmarked set-plays because we haven't scored one yet, which is rare for us because we work so hard on them.

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“So to get that as a goal and to score in the manner we did, topped off a wonderful evening.”

Bradley's goal was Luton's first shot on target as they had dug in during the first period to get a foothold in proceedings against their relegation rivals, before being rewarded for a slightly more adventurous mindset after the break to move off the bottom of the table.

The defender added: "It’s a difficult one, in the Championship, you have to work it out as you play, and today was certainly the case.

"The first 10-15 I thought was a bit sticky, we didn’t play enough balls in behind, we didn't stretch them enough and we allowed them just to press us a little bit which we knew they were going to do that.

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"But after 25 minutes, the game opened up a bit, we made a few passes and we were able to get out.

"Apart from that, there’s no real chances in the game until the goal goes in.

"Then Collo’s (James Collins) got a good chance, should make it 2-0, and then we get the goal with Elliot and all of a sudden it’s game over.

"We were solid all day so as soon as it went 2-0, we played the game well and we got the result we needed."