Cornick rues the lack of Luton fans to celebrate with at Elland Road

Attacker wishes Town's travelling army had been present
Harry Cornick celebrates his ninth goal of the season at Elland Road yesterdaHarry Cornick celebrates his ninth goal of the season at Elland Road yesterda
Harry Cornick celebrates his ninth goal of the season at Elland Road yesterda

Town attacker Harry Cornick was gutted there were no Luton fans to celebrate with after scoring a brilliant ninth goal of the season at Leeds United yesterday night.

Five minutes after coming on at the break, Cornick sped away to collect Ryan Tunnicliffe’s excellent pass and despite being held up by Ben White, curled a beautiful effort beyond the dive of Illan Meslier and into the top corner.

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He had to make do with enjoying the moment in front of the numerous cut-outs of Whites fans with the game behind closed doors due to social distancing measures still in place.

On there being no Hatters followers, he said: “It’s not the 40,000 (crowd), it’s the 5,000, 6,000 Luton fans that would have been here.

"It’s annoying that they weren’t here for me to celebrate in front of.

“But hopefully they were behind the screens of the TV, celebrating like that.

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“It’s a bit annoying playing with no fans, but it’s just what we’ve got to do these days, we’ve got to get on with it.

“It’s tough with the no crowd, it’s not as hard because if you came to Elland Road and there was however many fans here chanting Leeds’ name, then it’s harder.

"We know that, as we play at Kenilworth Road and we know how hard it is for teams to come there.

"Without our fans there it’s tough, so hopefully they can keep supporting from home and keep cheering us one, that will be helpful and we’ve just got to try and get the points even if there is no fans there."

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A modest Cornick was quick to talk down just how good a finish it actually was, as he was still annoyed about missing an easier opportunity during the 1-0 win at Swansea on Saturday.

He continued: “I get a lot of stick for my finishing, it’s not the best, I’m working on it.

"I'm happy to find the back of the net and help the team get a result, I'm happy for the goal, a few more to come hopefully.

“It was a nice finish, I'm still thinking about Saturday’s miss against Swansea with the left foot, that's the way I'm trying to think of it.

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"I’m happy to get a goal again and get my account up and running, hopefully I can kick on again and get some more goals before the end of the season to help the team.”

Speaking to boss Nathan Jones in the week, he had mentioned how Cornick was guilty of trying to blast his finish at the Liberty Stadium rather than calmly picking his spot.

Although Cornick did exactly that at Elland Road this time, he hadn’t had Jones’ words in his mind when bearing down on Meslier’s goal.

He said: “I didn't really think about it tonight.

"When you get the chance, instincts kick in and you just do whatever you think is best.

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"You get a split second to think about it, Saturday I probably had a bit too long to think about it, so tonight I just got through and I didn't really have too much time to think about it.

"I just had to get my shot off and thankfully its found the top corner and it’s a goal.”

Leeds went into the game with the best defensive record at home in the Championship, only conceding 13 goals and had not been breached for the past four games, stretching back to early February with the three month suspension for coronavirus.

Cornick added: “It’s massive goal for us.

"They were starting to get on top a little bit, we knew our gameplan from the start, we had to try and hit them on the counter because they’re a good possession team.

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"They keep the ball well and sometimes they commit a few too many bodies forward for the team and they leave some spaces open.

"Tunny’s played a great ball through and I’ve got on the end of and scored which I’m happy about."