Experience and a run of games helped Hatters forward Jerome end his long wait to score a first Championship goal for Luton

Forward Cameron Jerome tapped into all his reserves of experience to ensure he didn’t get too frustrated with himself ahead of ending his long wait for a first Championship goal in Luton colours at the weekend.

The 35-year-old was something of a surprise addition to the Hatters ranks in the summer when joining on a free transfer, going away from the younger element that boss Nathan Jones had previously been recruiting.

The former Norwich, Birmingham, Stoke and Derby striker was off the mark on his debut in the Carabao Cup against Stevenage, but only started four league games up until Christmas, the majority of his action coming with cameos from the bench.

With Town then going 29 days without a game due to coronavirus outbreaks over the festive period, Jerome bagged an FA Cup goal in the 4-0 rout of League Two Harrogate on their return, going on to start seven of Luton’s last 11 games in all competitions.

With Jerome’s performances on the pitch starting to show just why Jones had been so eager to bring him in, the one thing missing was that first league goal.

He hasn’t been without opportunities either, seeing one ruled out against Bournemouth for a controversial offside call, while also hitting the post against Blackburn Rovers recently too.

Despite that, the forward was still very much impacting, setting up Harry Cornick for the winner at Swansea and then Carlos Mendes Gomes for his goal in the 3-0 FA Cup triumph at Cambridge United.

It looked like Jerome wasn’t going to catch a break himself though, denied by the woodwork once more on Saturday, as played through by Allan Campbell, he saw his shot hit the inside of the post and bounce out again.

However, his luck did finally change, getting the goal he deserved early in the second half, with a towering header from Kal Naismith’s free kick to notch his first at this level since scoring in May 2018 for Derby against Fulham in the Championship play-off semi-final.

Jerome said: “With every forward, you’re judged on goals, so it is frustrating when things don’t drop for you.

“But as an experienced player you know if you keep putting yourself in the right position, things will drop eventually and football is like that.

“Sometimes it’s small margins of luck and over the last month or so, I’ve probably not had that small margin of luck, but today I could have been touch and go with offside, I’ve not seen it back, that’s just football for you.

“Sometimes it works like that, small margins.

“The last few games you have two off the inside of the post, one disallowed which isn’t offside, so as a striker you’ve just got to keep putting yourself in those positions and hopefully they will drop for you.”

On the goal itself at the weekend, Jerome said: "It’s something we work on in training.

"Kal’s got a lovely left foot and James Bree has on the right, so it could have been either or, putting in a good delivery.

"The timing was perfect and it was a well executed header by myself.

“It’s such a difficult ball to defend, we know that.

"As a forward running on to the ball, there’s nothing better, especially when it’s on the money like that.

"We had one or two bodies in there who could have also got on the end of things, so a great ball and a great way to pick up the second half.

“It’s something we worked on in training, the delivery, me and Elijah (Adebayo) talked about positions, where we want to go, who wanted to be number one across the front one, who wanted to be the one following in behind.

"It’s a true centre-forwards goal, it’s where you want to be, in the box, scoring goals.

"The delivery was outstanding, all you had to do was guide the header, and it was always going to go in the net, a great ball and I’m pleased with the goal.

Getting a run of games is something that has also helped Jerome, the forward used to being a regular at most of his previous clubs, as he continued: “You need a rhythm in any position you’re playing in.

“You need two, three, four, five games in succession, or within seven or eight games, just to get that little bit of confidence and get your feeling back or get your touch back.

“All those things and good habits, you can never have too many of those, and that comes through playing football.”

Although he hadn’t managed to score in the Championship until the weekend, Jerome was still happy with the role he was playing at Kenilworth Road, adding: “It’s always nice to play and score and help the team out in terms of that sense of on the field, but my whole role within the club is to push the boys.

“Elijah (Adebayo), Harry Cornick, Admiral Muskwe, the younger players, it’s to help them and guide them through certain things on and off the pitch and also to contribute and push them to make their form be higher, to make them better players.

“I’ve still got that desire to play football games and to start games, if I hadn’t have played today I would have been disappointed as well.

“So it proves where I am in terms of my ambitions as a player that at my age I still want to go out and score goals, there’s no better feeling.”