Town skipper relieved Luton are showing signs of life after a 'mental season'

Luton skipper Carlton Morris admitted it has been a ‘mental season’ for the Hatters as they approach the final six games of the campaign fighting for their lives in the Championship.

Up until recently, Town looked like they were destined for the drop into League One, unable to win away from home, while struggling for results at Kenilworth Road as well, a fairly damning recipe for disaster. However, a 1-0 victory over Portsmouth last month arrested the slide, as despite being thrashed 4-0 at Burnley in the next match, that came when Kal Naismith was sent off inside the opening 20 minutes when the scores were goalless.

Since then, Luton have gone four unbeaten for the first time this season, picking up eight points from a possible 12, including a 1-1 draw against title-chasing Leeds United at the weekend, as they are now two points from safety. Speaking to the club’s official website on Saturday, Morris is relieved to see Town finally showing signs of life in their battle to stay up, saying: “Obviously it has been a mental season for us to be where we are, but things haven't gone our way at times.

"We've had to sort of build that foundation from the start again, and that was going a bit more direct and keeping things more simple at times, but you can see that we're getting a bit of momentum, a bit of confidence. The team is starting to play a bit more, our good players are starting to shine through and you know that's only going to be a good thing for us going forward. You see the lads in midfield, Clicker (Jordan Clark), Walshy (Liam Walsh), Thelo (Aasgaard), fantastic on second balls, in duels, coming out of tackles. The back five were tremendous, Thomas (Kaminski) aggressive on his line.

“Credit to Leeds, that was a tough, tough game that had a Premier League energy to it to be honest. It was a good point at home, the lads left it all out there there's no question about that. We’re riding the momentum finally at the minute as things have been going our way a bit more recently and it's come to fruition with a couple of wins.”

Morris himself has struggled hugely for goals this season, as although he is the club’s top scorer with seven, hasn’t netted since the 2-1 defeat at Swansea City on December 29, a run now spanning 15 appearances. Despite that, the forward is providing Town with a real physical presence upfront, especially on Saturday when he went up against the imposing pairing of Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk, just about keeping his frustrations in check as well when a number of decisions went against him.

He believes it is the least he can do for his team-mates during his own personal drought too, continuing: “We are playing with a bit more confidence, a bit more freedom, battling around as well. From my own perspective, the goals aren’t coming at the minute. I’m not getting the chances that I'm necessarily wanting, so the minimum I can do is put my body on the line and have a good tear-up and let the centre-halves know they're in a game, which you know I enjoy doing, especially for this football club.”

With Luton finally in some kind of form, then it means they can head to fellow strugglers Stoke City this evening with renewed optimism that they can win a third successive game on the road and potentially lift themselves above the dotted line once more. Morris can’t wait for the opportunity to do so, adding: “It’s really good to finally have that momentum, so roll on Tuesday. In our last six games, barring the Burnley one, they’ve all been really positive results. We're riding that momentum for the first time really this season, so it's important that we hold onto it and the lads are buzzing already for this game in midweek.”