FEATURE: Elijah Adebayo's 10th goal of the season against Fulham equals a near 30-year record for the Hatters

When Elijah Adebayo stooped to head James Bree’s free kick past Fulham keeper Marek Rodak at Kenilworth Road earlier this month to make it 10 goals for the season, in doing so he managed to equal a second tier record for Luton that had stood for just under 30 years.

It wasn’t the fact that he was into double figures, that had been done plenty of times before, but in just his 20th appearance of the campaign, it matched the quickest time to reach such a milestone, set by Northern Irishman Phil Gray in the 1992-93 campaign.

Back then Gray had gone five matches without a goal, before opening his account in the 2-1 win at Brentford.

Another five goalless games followed making it one in 10, before his season caught light, scoring six in four matches including doubles against Peterborough United and Cambridge United.

Another followed in the 1-1 draw with Millwall, before he had his 10th with a brace during a 2-1 win against Wolves on December 12, also his 20th appearance.

During the years in between, James Collins, who had been a regular scorer in the lower leagues, bagged five in his opening nine games in the Championship, but then found things much tougher, as he eventually made it to 10 in February during the 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday, his 32nd appearance.

The following term, he again began well, off the mark straight away, but despite a treble against Preston in December giving him six, he only managed to get to 10 when glancing home against Bristol City in April, game number 39.

Before that, the 2006-07 season, Rowan Vine started the campaign like a house on fire, as two braces against West Bromwich Albion and Birmingham took him to eight against Leeds in October.

However, a mini barren run saw him go six without finding the net, as he eventually got there on his 23rd game, a 3-1 win over Coventry, his exploits alerting Birmingham, who shelled out £1.5m for his services.

Even the legendary Steve Howard couldn’t quite match Adebayo’s swiftness, as in the 2005-06 season, he started with a goal at Crystal Palace in the 2-1 win, netting six by the 4-2 defeat against Norwich in October.

A run of two in 13 games though saw it take him until his 27th appearance to make it 10, that coming in a 2-0 win over QPR in mid-January.

In 1994-95, Dwight Marshall, had to wait until his 32nd appearance against Millwall to get to double figures, as ahead of Gray’s efforts, Luton had been a top flight club for a number of years.

As a second tier side though, 11 matches had been the record for a number of Hatters' hot-shots.

During the promotion of year of 1981-82, Steve White reached the mark by then, as scoring in the opening game of the season, he then bagged two in a 2-1 win at Leicester City.

After notching against Orient, he took off, on target in a 1-1 draw with Oldham, then scoring four as Grimsby were hammered 6-0 at Kenilworth Road and getting to 10 the following game in the 2-0 win at Wrexham on October 24.

David Moss had managed to do so in 1979-80 too, as he bagged seven in his first five games, with three braces including three penalties.

Another double against Sunderland saw him to double figures, as he went on to register 24 goals in the season for Town.

Back in the 1970-71 campaign, former England and Newcastle forward Malcolm Macdonald also did it in 11 matches, as he had four in his first four fixtures.

A brace in the 2-0 win over Bristol City took him to eight with a hat-trick in a 5-1 thumping of Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough seeing him into double figures, as he also went on to bag 24.

Leading scorer of all time Gordon Turner went close in 1961-62, 12 games, while in 1954-55 when he managed 32, a record at this level for Luton, but still took 14 games to get to 10.

Jesse Pye also had double figures in 14 games during the 1952-53 season, but despite their best efforts, none of them come close to a certain Hugh Billington, who has the overall record taking a mere seven matches in the 1938-39 term.

He didn’t even play until Tranmere away in November, the 13th game of the season, but wasted no time getting up and running with a double in the 3-2 win.

He then scored two as Bury were thrashed 5-2 on his third appearance, with his fourth leading to just one in the 5-1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday.

The Ampthill-born forward, who also played for Chelsea, drew a rare blank against Fulham but then hit four in the 5-0 win over Chesterfield on his sixth game and had the record in the next encounter, a 2-1 defeat to Millwall, to set an impressive record that has stood for 80 years now and could well stand for another 80!.