Ex-Luton boss believes Town successor Edwards has 'taken on' Hatters top scorer Morris

Ex-Luton boss Nathan Jones believes striker Carlton Morris has been ‘taken on’ a level by current Hatters chief Rob Edwards

The 27-year-old was signed by Jones for a club record fee of around £1.5m back in the summer, joining from Barnsley after netting nine goals in 30 outings last term, including a fine solo effort in the Tykes’ 2-1 defeat at Kenilworth Road.

He then went on to find the net eight times in 21 league appearances under the Welshman, who then left Town to join Premier League side Southampton in November.

Despite his exit, Morris went on to flourish, scoring 12 in 23 Championship matches when Edwards took over, becoming the first Luton striker to hit 20 goals in the second tier since Brian Stein back in the 1981-82 season.

Speaking on Sky Sports ahead of Luton’s 2-1 defeat to Sunderland in their play-off first leg on Saturday, Jones said of his former charge: "I followed his career for a while, but the way we finished last year, we needed at that time to add quality and to go up a level and we felt that he could do that.

"We felt that the style of play suited him and we felt he’d get more goals from playing with us than he has beforehand and he's shown that.

"He's not just a target, he’s not just a big man, he’s got good feet, great character, great around the place and has proven to be one of the best players in the Championship this year.

"I think he was one of the final pieces to the jigsaw.

"The way that we were playing at the time, whether we wanted to build, we know that we’ll get balls into strikers, we know that we used to put balls into the box and they’ve continued that.

"His goalscoring hasn’t slowed down, it’s actually accelerated since Rob's been there.

"So whatever Rob’s doing with him, it shows he’s not just continued it, he’s taken him on as well.”