'Warrior' Pearson praised by Luton chief as he approaches milestone

Town defender Matty Pearson has been likened to a ‘warrior’ by manager Nathan Jones as he closes in on his century of appearances for the Hatters.

If he features against Wycombe Wanderers this weekend, then the 27-year-old will complete 100 games for Luton in just his third season.

Pearson signed for the club from Barnsley in the summer of 2018, brought in by Jones during his first spell at the helm.

He was ever-present as Town won promotion from League Two, as the former Accrington centre half went on to start 88 games in a row before that sequence was ended after lockdown when he was an unused substitute against the Tykes at Kenilworth Road.

Pearson has begun all three league games this term alongside Sonny Bradley in the heart of Town's back-line, as Jones said: “He’s been wonderful, he really has, been wonderful in everything we do.

“We brought Matty in because we’d watched him at Accrington a load, we tried to get him when he was at Accrington, but Barnsley were in a higher league than us at the time and got him.

"But he’s been excellent, he’s brilliant, he is match tempo when he’s playing pool, he’s match tempo when he’s actually training, he’s exactly the same, so he’s been fantastic.

"I didn't actually know it was 100th, it may put a spanner in certain things, but it’s one of those things.

"He’s done fantastically well regardless of whether he makes his 100th appearance on the weekend or not.”

An ankle injury had looked like curtailing Pearson's efforts last term, as he missed a part of the run-in, before coming back to take his place on the bench on the final day against Blackburn Rovers, coming on for the final 12 minutes as Town saw out a crucial 3-2 win.

Jones revealed he should have been nowhere near contention for the match, but that his burning desire to play pulled him through on the day.

He added: “A normal human being would have missed games, trust me.

“He had a bad tackle in training and he should have missed six to eight weeks.

"After 10 days he said ‘I want to try it’ and we did, because he was in so much pain going into the day before Blackburn, and then he came to me and said ‘adrenaline will get me though’ and luckily enough it did.

"We brought him on for the last 15 minutes and he was outstanding, the amount of pain he was playing through, was ridiculous and that's Matty Pearson, that just sums him right up.

"Whatever he has deficiencies in, his stand out characteristic is he's an absolute warrior and that’s why we signed him.”