Loyal Luton boss was determined to stick by Adebayo through the striker's barren spell

Hatters boss Nathan Jones always retained full belief that striker Elijah Adebayo would be able to find a way through the goal drought that had hindered his start to the season.

The 24-year-old went into the current campaign on the back of a year in which most things he hit found the back of the net, scoring 17 goals to spearhead Luton’s charge to the play-offs, before a hamstring injury left him unable to play a significant role in their 2-1 aggregate defeat to Huddersfield Town.

This term it had been a different story though, Adebayo going through the second longest barren run of his career, 11 matches without a goal, worse than his spell of 18 matches when playing for Swindon, Stevenage and Walsall over the course the 2018-19 and 2019-20 season, suffering for form on the field and dealing with some personal issues too.

However, last night, the duck was finally broken by scoring twice in the 3-3 draw with Huddersfield, as on how Jones managed the former Fulham youngster through the tough times, he said: “He's never had the expectation levels, everything he's going through now he's never had before, so it's a new experience.

“When he doesn't score, you believe in your players, some people have a go at me or say I'm too loyal, but I believe in my players.

“I did it with Danny Hylton, I knew what I was getting off Danny, I knew what I needed from and it took him a little bit of time to reach his potential at Championship level, so you just have to do that.

“But the players give me everything and Elijah was magnificent last year, so to recreate that is tough.

“Then he's targeted, that's why we brought Carlton (Morris) in, to give him help, so we have good targets, two nines if you like.

"Then Harry’s (Cornick) a real different foil for them, because he’s a different kind of striker, but magnificent nonetheless.

“You have to realise he sets such high standards.

“When he came back from injury you’ve always got to gather momentum and what you do is keep believing in your players, keep telling them how good they are and he does, he works hard.”

With the Hatters trailing 1-0 to Morris’s early own goal against the Terriers, it was Adebayo who restored parity when sidestepping his man inside the area and seeing a low shot fortunately cannon into the net off defender Michal Helik.

Behind again when Jordan Rhodes converted from the spot, there was no luck about Adebayo’s second, as bullying home defender Luke Mbete to a ball over the top from Morris, he held off another challenge before coolly slotting beyond Lee Nicholls to make it 2-2.

Jones knew that the confidence boost from finally getting his name on the scoresheet paved the way to such a fine second, as he continued: “You’ve got to get the first goal, got to get off the mark.

“He’s had opportunities where people have made saves, he wanted to get off the mark however he did, and he did.

“The second one was all what we know he can do, pace, power, aggression and then a cool finish at the end, so we’re really, really happy,

“Tonight, first half was all about Elijah Adebayo, what he was last season, he was back.

"So if we’ve got him and Carton doing that, with Harry Cornick, Cameron Jerome, with the people we’ve got then we’ve got a real, real chance and they are a handful as they did cause real problems.”

Having finally got off the mark, then Jones is now hopeful his forward can go on and achieve the kind of levels he has reached previously, plus enjoy the same sort of goal return that he managed last term.

He said: “I hope so, we believe in him, we know what he does day in day out.

"We know what he can do and you have to understand it was his first full season in the Championship last season, so he set really high standards.

"He got injured towards the end of last year, so there would be a psychological thing to get over.

"We had to be careful with him in pre-season, so its taken him a little bit of time, but you’ve seen tonight what he can do and what he does and he’s an absolute handful when he’s at it.”

One thing the boss did urge Adebayo to add to his game is a more robust element, as it looked like he had picked up a knock in the first half, only to carry on after the break, adding: “He’s got to get over that as sometimes he makes everyone think he’s got an injury, or he looks like he’s got an injury.

"But he’s got to be big and strong as when he’s focused, he’s a top Championship striker.”