Courageous Lee earns praise from Hatters chief for his desire to impress

Recalled attacker Elliot Lee has earned praise for the courage he has shown to win a place back in the Luton side since manager Nathan Jones returned to the club.

The 25-year-old cut a frustrated figure under previous boss Graeme Jones, with just one league start this term, that coming in the opening game of the season against Middlesbrough.

However, the striker was back in the squad for the home game with Preston and then started last weekend's 1-0 win at Swansea, giving an excellent performance on the left hand side of an attacking three.

Although out of contract in the summer, Jones believes Lee can still feature heavily for Town during the run-in, saying: “The group I left I believe was a Championship-level squad.

“They needed certain help, certain things. Generally we wanted the opportunity to go up against Championship sides.

“I sort of ruptured that slightly with my move but to have people come back in and they’re motivated to play for you and want to do that, especially with the talented players is brilliant.

“We’re going to need everyone.

"Elliot has shown real courage and a real enthusiasm since I’ve come back in to do well and he earned that, I thought he was excellent at the weekend, I really did.

"They’re all going to be big players, some will be key but they are all going to be important players for us.”

Jones was the manager to sign Lee for his first permanent spell at Kenilworth Road in July 2017 after he had a successful loan stint from West Ham United under John Still in the 2014-15 season.

He has since gone on to play over 100 times and Jones remains a big fan of his talents, adding: “Elliot Lee always has done well for me and he's been superb when I was here previously.

"He came in and I had certain doubts about could he do what we needed to do out of possession, and he literally changed every part of how he went about his work and he was superb, absolutely superb.

"One thing you do get from Elliot Lee, he's comfortable in possession, he's not afraid of the football and that's what we need."