Unstoppable Cornick insists Sky Blues display is up there with his best yet for Luton

Town attacker Harry Cornick felt his best performance during Wednesday night's 5-0 hammering of Coventry City was his best in a Luton shirt to date.

The 26-year-old was most definitely right too as not only did he score twice, netting a first brace in his professional career, but he added two assists as well on a night where the Sky Blues defence had no answers to his pace and power.

Reflecting on his own display during the 71 minutes he was on the pitch, Cornick said: “It’s probably one of my best performances all in all.

"Keeping the ball, hold up play, creating chances, scoring goals, probably my best one so far as a Luton player, so only upwards as now.

Manager Nathan Jones was eager to praise the player he signed in August 2017 during his first spell as Luton manager, bringing in the wideman from Bournemouth, then aged just 22.

With Cornick now on target 27 times in 180 matches, he said: "He scored a lot of goals for Luton in the Championship when I wasn’t here and people have chastised him for missing chances, but we converted him from a right winger to a centre forward.

"I thought he was wonderful, and I’m really pleased for him as he’s the most amazing kid.

"We love having him, he’s bright and bubbly all the time.

"He misses chances, he keeps coming back and puts himself in there and we should be proud to have a player like that.”

It wasn't just Cornick who gave one of his best displays on the night, but the team as well, with the forward saying: "The gaffer has said it’s the best performance he’s seen from us, and he’s seen us beat Cambridge 7-0, Stevenage, a few of them, so for him to say that is a massive thing for us.

"I thought we were really good, there’s a lot of things we can improve on, we probably should have scored more, a few silly chances we gave them, but I think we’re a great side.

"I think we can really do well this year, I’m not going to say where I think we’ll go or what we will do, but I think we’ll have a good year."

Cornick's start to the campaign is a world away from last term when it took him until his 40th appearance to finally open his account for the season.

He managed to reverse that trend on the opening day this season, and has now hit the net four times in 10 league outings, saying: "I’m happy, scoring goals, it was a tough year for me last year, not scoring.

"To get my first one against Peterbrough in the first game was huge, no demons in my mind, I've just got to keep pushing forward and putting performances in.

"Goals will come, I’ve no doubt about that.

"I’ve just got to keep playing the way I’m playing."

Cornick's first goal arrived on 18 minutes when what looked like a short free kick gone wrong, saw the ball eventually fed back to Jordan Clark some 30 yards from goal.

He then lofted a pass into the area for Kal Naismith to nod across for an unmarked Cornick to bury a rare header past Simon Moore, brother of ex-Luton loanee Stuart.

It was no accident though, as the striker said: “That was planned, Paul Hart can get the credit for that.

"We worked on that the whole week, short set-piece and it worked, straight to me, goal, bosh.

“It’s not often (a headed goal), I think my last one would have been West Brom, about two years ago, but any goal is good for me, happy days.”

With Town then 4-0 to the good at the break, Cornick pounced 18 minutes into the second period, as this time a short free kick did go wrong, but it was Coventry's error, substitute Ben Sheaf caught in possession by Luke Berry.

That saw Cornick rifle past Moore via a slight deflection, although he admitted it should have been Adebayo's goal, saying: “I don’t know what they were doing there.

"To be fair to Eli, he should have got a hat-trick tonight as I was telling him to go and press the left hand side.

"He was too, not lazy, but too tired to move, so I said I’ll press that side.

"I started jogging over and Bezza got to the ball and I got a chance on goal.

"So if Eli weren’t so lazy he would have had a hat-trick tonight, so that’s his own fault.

“I’ve already missed a few this year, but if I keep getting chances I’ll score goals I’ve got no doubt about that.

"Finishing is probably not the strongest part of my game, but I’m working on it every day and can only improve on it.

"Hopefully the more chances I get, the more goals I get this year.”

Although Cornick didn't get the chance to go for the match-ball, replaced on 71 minutes by Carlos Mendes Gomes, he was happy to see Adebayo, also on a brace, withdrawn as well, joking: "I was gutted when mine (number) came up as I thought I could go and get my hat-trick.

"I was looking and thinking 'if he doesn’t come off as well, I’ll be raging.'

"If he (Nathan Jones) left him on for the hat-trick and took me off I’d have been raging, but no, we both got taken off and can rest up now for Saturday."

It wasn't just goals that Cornick brought to the table last night though, but assists as well, two of them, remarkably his first of the season.

During recent weeks, the attacker has created a number of gilt edged chances for his team-mates, only to see them missed, Cameron Jerome and Adebayo the guilty offenders.

This time he did grab an assist though, doing superbly to outmuscle two Coventry defenders and reach Tom Lockyer's ball over the top, before finding the run of Luke Berry perfectly to score his fourth of the season.

Cornick then got a vital and clever flick on James Bree’s cross for Adebayo to make it 4-0 on the stroke of half time, adding: "It’s nice to see it go in, good for Bez to get another goal, another one for Eli as well.

"If I can keep creating chances for people and scoring goals myself, then that's going to push us up the table."