Hammers fan Burke focused on earning Luton a first top flight win against the Irons

​Luton defender Reece Burke is fully focused on beating his boyhood team this evening when the Hatters host West Ham United at Kenilworth Road.

The centre half, who was born in the Hammers territory of Newham, joined the club aged nine in 2005, and after progressing the the ranks at Upton Park, made his first team debut when coming on in a 5-0 FA Cup defeat against Nottingham Forest in January 2014, Town team-mate Dan Potts and ex-Hatter Elliot Lee also in the squad that day.

He went on to make his Premier League debut in a 0-0 draw at QPR a year later, going on to register five top flight appearances in total, while also playing in the Europa League and scoring an FA Cup winner over Shrewsbury Town during his 15 first team outings for the club.

After loan spells to Bradford, Wigan and Bolton, Burke eventually moved to Hull City for a reported £1.5m in July 2018, before heading to the Hatters three years later, helping Town reach the top flight via the play-off final last term.

On going up against the team he supports for the first time on Friday, he said: “I've been looking forward to playing against my old team West Ham and it would be nice to get a win.

“It was (Sam) Allardyce who gave me my chance in the Prem, so I'm really grateful for that.

"I am a West Ham fan, I was there as a young lad, I’m grateful for my time there.

"The progression and the player that I am today started when I was a young age, but I still want to win."

Having missed Luton's start to the Premier League season at Brighton as he was recovering from injury, Burke was back in the top flight for his first appearance since that game for West Ham some eight years ago when facing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last Friday night.

On what it felt like to return to the level he has been determined to reach once more, the centre half continued: “It was years ago, but it’s good to be back out there.

"The level’s much higher, the players you’re playing against are much better.

"You’ve got to stay concentrated, got to be fitter, stronger, so there’s a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes at the moment in terms of us as a team.

"We are still building, which is a positive, so I do believe we will get better.”

Having had a stop-start time of it since joining Luton on a free transfer back, Burke has featured against both Chelsea and Gillingham in the Carabao Cup now, as he targets an injury-free campaign of regular first team football.

Asked how his fitness has been holding up, he added: “It’s all good, I was training before the Brighton game, but it was probably a sensible decision not to play me.

"I was gutted to miss that one, but glad to be back out there again.

“It has been frustrating, but I’ve been working really hard, doing the best I possibly can in terms of with my injury.

"I’ve been managing it really well, been training really hard and the numbers I’m doing in the gym is really helping me and I feel really good out there.

“It’s nice to play and nice to get back out there and get some more minutes under my belt and hopefully progress to playing week in week out, as that’s what I want to do.

“More minutes, more time under my belt, so I just need to keep fit and carry on.”