Edwards praises 'mature' attitude of Adebayo after ending any further goal drought chat

Town chief Rob Edwards praised the ‘mature’ attitude shown by striker Elijah Adebayo after he ended any more chat about his lengthy goalscoring drought during the 2-1 defeat by Sunderland on Wednesday night.

The 26-year-old had last been on target when finding the net in imperious fashion against Everton on May 3, his 10th of an increasingly impressive top flight season in which he was feared by top flight defences after scoring against Arsenal on his return to the side in early December. However, he found goals far harder to come by in the second tier when Town were relegated, going 11 league and cup games without finding the net this term, although it wasn’t for the want of trying, firing off 23 unsuccessful shots.

Adebayo was finally able to celebrate though against the Black Cats when Alfie Doughty swung a free kick over and Carlton Morris volleyed it back into the six yard box where the forward nodded in from a matter of yards. The relief in both Adebayo and his team-mates’ celebration was clear to see, as Edwards said: “Eli’s been working really hard, that’s been obvious and really evident.

"It’s taken a bit longer than we all would have hoped for, but he got it and that can hopefully stop everyone having to talk about that as well and he can just concentrate on his all-round performances which have been really, really good. He’s been really mature about the whole situation, but clearly it will have been affecting him as it’s like anything.

“All of us, we have pride, we have ego, we don’t like losing games, we don’t like being questioned, we don’t like not performing well or not scoring goals, whatever it might be, but we’re in this game. Form is temporary we hope and his overall game has been there. There’s been little bits lacking, but the goals we know with Eli will come. This game just throws challenges at you, it has at me already this season and all the players as well.

“What we have to show is real strength, belief and character and all of the things that our supporters will want to see when we’re in difficult moments. We’ve got to support each other and keep fighting and I think we’ve shown that, particularly in that last week to deliver the performances that we have and we’ve got to continue to keep doing that. It’s never easy, no-one’s ever going to hand you anything, you’ve got to go and make it happen and those are our intentions.”

Once more, Adebayo was on target from in and around the six yard box, an area where a large number of his 43 goals for the Hatters have been scored from. It’s a knack that Edwards was impressed by, as he continued: “Most strikers say that experienced strikers will tell you that one touch finish between the posts, that’s the saying, that’s how it goes and that was the prime example of it there.

"With the front two playing together more now, the way that we’re going it allows our midfield players to link with the wingbacks or wide players to provide the ammunition for the strikers to be in the right positions to score. It was nice that they linked up together from that set-piece, but that’s where the threat comes from and it was brilliant that he was there.”

Although he hadn’t been able to find the net, Adebayo remained a regular in the Hatters starting XI, and he showed just why in the last two games, bullying the Watford and Sunderland defenders in performances that mirrored his efforts in the top flight last term. It's a big reason as to why Edwards kept faith with the striker, as he said: “We said that, and that’s why we continued to back him and believe in what he did.

"He’s so difficult for opposition players to handle and it’s not just scoring goals, clearly we want forwards to score, that helps us, but if he’s doing what he’s doing then other people will get chances, or we’ll have a platform to play high up in the opposition’s half which is what we want to try and do. His work-rate has been there, but what he added and what he had on Saturday, there was a real presence there, and when it went up to him it stuck. It’s great that he took control, he grabbed the game, along with Carlton, I thought the front two were absolutely magnificent.”