Luton striker Hylton praises Harford for always having his back

Hatters striker Danny Hylton knows full well that Town boss Mick Harford had his back during his recent goal drought.
Danny Hylton opens the scoring against Gillingham on SaturdayDanny Hylton opens the scoring against Gillingham on Saturday
Danny Hylton opens the scoring against Gillingham on Saturday

The attacker went almost five months without a goal, after injury and suspension hampered his season.

He netted in the 2-0 win over Rochdale though earlier this month and was back on the scoresheet again during Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Gillingham.

Hylton was quick to praise Harford for his unwavering support though, saying: “He’s got everyone’s back, we’re a team, we stick together.

“No-one points fingers, no-one blames anyone, if someone makes a mistake, it’s all our fault, we’re a team.

“Luckily enough I’ve had that the whole time I’ve been here, always had confidence put in me.

“There’s not been too many times where I’ve gone a period of time without scoring, but now I have, no-one gets on your back, there’s a bit of banter in training and stuff like that, but it’s all light hearted.

“Mick’s there to just say don’t worry about it, goals will come, just keep doing your thing and they will. Mick’s a legend, so if he’s got your back, then you’re not going to be too far off are you?”

The duo did have a meeting recently after Hylton was taken off by Harford in the first half of the 0-0 draw at Plymouth for fear of being sent off by referee Darren Drysdale, despite doing very little wrong.

Hylton continued: “We had a chat, he said he didn’t want to do it, but just said he didn’t trust the situation at the time.

“That’s the way it is, the ref thought it was a yellow card, so you’ve just got to accept it.

“It was the right decision and a game that we still should have won.

“Another tough away game, but they’re in great form as well so it was another good point.”

Hylton showed his predatory instincts once more at the weekend when scoring from close range after Callum Reilly’s intended clearance dropped for him.

He said: “As a forward, you’ve got to try and stay alive, stay bright for any chance, that might happen.

“Luckily it fell for me and I managed to score, but I’d trade the goal for three points, if you offered me that.

“It’s not about any individual or me scoring, or anyone else scoring, we want to win games.

“It felt like a bit of a missed opportunity after leading twice, but it’s been a long week, Gillingham played well, the lad scored a great free kick.

“Sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say ‘it wasn’t meant to be.’

“We’ve got another home game next week and one that will be tough but we’ll be looking to win.”

Team-mate Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu added: “Collo’s (James Collins) been banging the goals in, but Hylts, he’s a goalscorer and he put one in.

“Hylts is sharp, he’s been sharp since he’s come back and thankfully he put the ball in. It was a bit of a dodgy bounce, I thought the keeper’s going to get it, but thankfully Hylts put us 1-0 up.”