Luton striker hails 'fundamental' Lockyer after Hatters defender was named in Championship's best XI

Luton striker Carlton Morris has described defender Tom Lockyer as ‘fundamental’ to the Hatters side after he was named in the Championship Team of the Year at the weekend.

The 27-year-old was honoured at the EFL awards night held in London with a place as one of two of the best centre halves in the second tier, partnering Sheffield United’s Anel Ahmedhodzic in a back four that contained Burnley duo Connor Roberts and Ian Maatsen.

He then followed that up with the equaliser as Luton beat Middlesbrough 2-1 at Kenilworth Road on Monday evening, heading home Alfie Doughty’s corner via the inside of the post for his third strike of the season.

Discussing Lockyer’s importance to Luton, Morris said: “Honestly, I can’t speak highly enough of Locks to be honest.

"It’s not just what everyone sees every week on the pitch twice a week, it’s everything off the pitch as well.

"The kind of character he is, he’s absolutely fundamental to our team.”

Lockyer found the net on Monday night, when it had looked like he was going to have to go off during the first half after suffering a clash of heads with Matt Crooks.

However, he was patched up and able to carry on, which was of no surprise to boss Rob Edwards, who continued: “He’s a tough man, he’s a proper defender, he’s had some stitches and it will need a lot more to get him off the pitch.

“It was a fantastic header wasn’t it, a bullet header.

"He’s had a brilliant season, I can’t speak highly enough of him as a guy, as a leader and he’s performed really, really well.

"He deserved to be in that Team of the Year, I'm really pleased for him.”

One of the big surprises was that Morris himself wasn’t included in the front three when the best Championship side of the season was announced.

Granted one of the strikers was a dead cert, the division’s leading scorer in Middlesbrough's Chuba Akpom, who has 28 goals this term.

Coventry's Viktor Gyokeres is another fair enough pick with 20 goals for a resurgent Sky Blues side, but the other, Sheffield United’s Iliman Ndiaye, is the surprising one.

Yes, he has 21 goal contributions from 42 appearances, scoring 13 times and managing eight assists, but that is five less than Morris, whose winner against Boro was his 20th of the campaign, adding six assists too in his 43 outings.

Asked whether he thought he had done enough to be selected, Morris added: “Good question, it speaks to the quality of this division.

"I’ve had a lot of goal involvements this year, played a lot of games and performed to almost the best of my ability in all of them.

"There’s a lot of quality in this league and I’m not going to sit here and be hurt about not making the team of the year.

"The players in there are outstanding and we’ve got one of ours in there as well, so it’s just good to get recognition for Tom.”