If you spent the weekend watching replays of Sonny Bradley’s wonder strike against Middlesbrough that’s nothing compared to the Luton defender himself.
It was worth the wait for the centre back who ended last term’s title-winning run as the only Hatter not to net.
But Bradley broke his duck in spectacular style in Friday night’s 3-3 Championship draw against Boro, ripping a volley into the top corner from outside the penalty area.
“For me, it’s a goal worth waiting for,” said the 6ft 5ins defender, adding: “I don’t know how many times I’m going to watch it, if I’m honest. It could be close to 50 times. It’s something I can be proud of and I can build on that now.”
The 27-year-old, who arrived at Kenilworth Road in the summer of 2018 after turning down a new Plymouth Argyle contract, hopes his hit may also put an end to the pelters he’s been receiving on social media over his barren spell, which had stretched back to February 17 2018.
He said: “I’ve got a Twitter account and I’ve been getting a fair amount of stick on Twitter. Before I came to the club, I think I scored 11 goals in two seasons, so I think the Luton fans were expecting a few goals from me and I couldn’t deliver that last season.”
Luton boss Graeme Jones joked after the Boro draw that Bradley’s leveller, to make it 1-1, was the plan all along.
“We work at that every day,” said the manager, adding: “I always put them sessions on, second phase of a corner and get Sonny Bradley on it, that was well-planned.”
The captain responding, saying: “I’d love to say I had it planned and that’s exactly how I wanted it to go. You can’t rehearse them goals, in my opinion, it just fell to me nicely.
“When the ball popped up it was in a really nice area, I chested it down and, to be honest, I don’t remember too much of what happened. I got a clean strike, obviously, and I’ve seen it go in and gone off and celebrated.
“I haven’t celebrated for a while, I haven’t scored for a while so I’m not sure what I did then either but, look, it’s positive.
“It’s my first goal for the club and I want to build on that now and see how many I can get this season.
“I’m buzzing it has gone it. I probably thought my first goal was going to be from a set-piece. I had so many chances last season and it was disappointing that I didn’t score.
“I don’t know how far out it was, maybe a 25-yard volley in the top corner and I’m not going to complain at that.”
