Youngster Addy hoping to get his chance with Town first team

Luton youngster TQ Addy will draw on the motivation of seeing former U21s duo Dion Pereira and Sam Beckwith making the step up into the senior team as motivation for his own ambitions this season.

The former Crystal Palace teenager joined Town back in November 2020, the same time as Pereira and Jack Chambers arrived, as Luton looked to increase their development squad, something they have done even further recently with the additions of Josh Williams and Conor Lawless.

Addy has been a regular in the U21s games ever since, scoring in the 3-2 win over Stevenage last month, and also the 3-1 defeat to Millwall U23s on Tuesday, although hasn't quite been able to burst through into the first team reckoning just yet.

However, with Beckwith getting his full debut against Stevenage in the Carabao Cup earlier in the campaign, while Pereira has been given a squad number this term and was a regular on the bench in the Championship before his loan move to Yeovil Town yesterday, Addy is using that to push himself on.

Speaking to the official website recently, he said: "It shows the club has faith in the younger players and shows if you are doing your thing and doing well well, then you are going to get your chance and it’s about whether you take it or not.

"Dion and Becksy were with us last season and they've stepped up now, so it gives us all a bit more motivation to go a little bit harder and a little bit extra to show that, if the work does gets recognised you could also step up as well.”

With Adrian Forbes in charge of the U21s on match-days, the head of coaching & player development also helping out manager Nathan Jones on a match-day for the time being after assistant boss Mick Harford undergoes treatment for prostate cancer, then having him in the dug-out is also a boost for Addy.

He continued: "He's been over there on match-days recently, so he sees how it is on a match day.

"Obviously he played himself as well, so he brings that down and tries to instil that into us, these are the levels that gives us the best chance of doing well when we go over there (first team training)."

Addy has been alongside some of the first-teamers like Glen Rea and Carlos Mendes Goes in recent development games, as he feels tapping into their knowledge can only help his own game progress too, adding: "It obviously helps when a few players have come down from the first-team.

“It’s good to be able learn from the experiences of other players.

"Carlos has come from elsewhere and Dion has been training with the first-team for a while now, getting a few experiences of playing with them as well.

"The quality they have in their feet and it helps a lot as they link well between players as well."