Luton boss tips speedy Shayden to be a 'dangerous aspect' for the Hatters after full debut

New Town signing Shayden Morris has been tipped to become a ‘dangerous aspect’ in the final third for the Hatters after making his full debut for the club during Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Doncaster Rovers at Kenilworth Road.

The 23-year-old, who arrived for an undisclosed fee from Scottish Premier League side Aberdeen on transfer deadline day, was given a run-out off the bench in the Vertu Trophy against Barnet earlier this month, winning a penalty following a speedy run into the area from the right wing, before confidently dispatching the spotkick into the net to score a first goal for his new side.

Morris then came off the bench in the 3-2 loss to Plymouth Argyle at Kenilworth Road, a role he fulfilled during the 3-1 defeat at Lincoln City, where he was one of the only visiting players to impress on what was an afternoon to instantly forget for the Hatters. With boss Matt Bloomfield swapping to a 4-2-3-1 formation for the visit of Doncaster at the weekend, it meant the winger was unleashed on last year’s League Two champions from the word go, with the home supporters getting an immediate taste of just what they can expect from the wideman.

Eager to get on the ball and just go at his man whenever the opportunity arises, from a standing start when possible too, Morris, who showed signs of a good understanding with midfielder Lamine Fanne, also restored to the starting line-up, went on a number of mazy dribbles, one from well inside his own half too, as he showed his pace to reach the by-line and dink over some inviting crosses that his team-mates just failed to make the most of.

He was then involved heavily in the winner as well, brought down by Glenn Middleton for the free kick that George Saville lifted into the box for Kal Naismith to head home the only goal of the game on 40 minutes. Discussing his first start in Luton colours, Bloomfield said: “We want to have players at our club that are going to excite supporters.

"We want them to look forward to watching their team and have players in our team that gets supporters off their seats and Shayden is certainly one of them. He’s good within the team shape, he understands the role, there’s lots to go over with him, but he’s someone who can excite people and can be a real dangerous aspect for us this season.”

Morris came out for the second half, but with his influence clearly waning, he lasted around 10 minutes before West Ham loanee Gideon Kodua took his place. Failing to get near to completing the entire game was no surprise to Bloomfield though, with the ex-Fleetwood youngster having managed to play 90 minutes just 12 times in his 133 senior appearances, three of them coming last season, along with two in the 2023-24 campaign, with the other seven matches happening when at the Cod Army, between 2019-22.

It is something Bloomfield was aware of, adding: “At half time he had his socks off, his boots off, he was stretching. I thought, he hasn't started loads of games, he started an U21s game at the Brache a couple of weeks ago and we know he’s building up his fitness. He’s not played loads of 90s in his career to date, so we hope to build him up to that level, but he was in front of us second half and you could see in a couple of his recovery runs that his game was spent, his energy was done and it was the right time to bring him off.”