Harry Cornick has saluted the “special” spirit among Luton’s players after securing a Championship Great Escape and then said they need to “kick on” next season.
The forward won the penalty for James Collins to score the crucial goal that beat Blackburn Rovers 3-2 on Wednesday night and steered them clear of the relegation spots.
Remarkably, their fate was in their hands on the final day of the season despite having been in the drop zone since Boxing Day and effectively seven points adrift before the restart.
“That’s the Luton way, against the odds,” said Cornick, adding: “Everyone wrote us off, I think. Everyone thought we were going down, but we knew we could get results.
“As soon as we came back in (from football’s three-month Coronavirus suspension), played our first three games and picked up some points, we knew we could do it and we just had to stick together.
“The spirit in that changing room is something special. It’s hard to describe how everyone feels, but we’ve all worked hard for each other and we deserved this. We deserve to be in the Championship.
“We think we’re a Championship side and it’s on to next season, really, to kick on.
“The aim now is to build as a team and not be in this position as a team next year. Who knows what can happen. You’ve seen what’s happened in the past.”
Against Blackburn, Cornick was substituted after his role in Luton’s third and he said: “I came off and it was the longest 15 minutes of my life. I couldn’t watch. I hated it, but it’s done now and we’re staying in the Championship.
“It was not comfortable, I tell you now. Sat up there (in the Kenilworth Road stands), I couldn’t watch. It was horrible.
“We had the scores up and I was just walking up and down, along the touchline, just checking the scores every few minutes and it was horrible.
“I kept looking at the clock and the clock was going backwards. It’s done now, so I’ll relax and have a beer.”
Town had to get through seven minutes of time added on, with Blackburn relentlessly pumping balls into Luton’s box and, for one final corner, sending goalkeeper Christian Walton into their box.
But they saw that out and after the final whistle, Cornick said: “It was just pure relief to get it done.
“It’s been a long season, with the setbacks and Coronavirus going around, it’s been a long, long season but we’ve achieved what we set out to do.
“We’re staying in the Championship so hopefully we can come back and have a better season next and not be in this position on the last day.”
Hiya,
We were 6 points adrift, effectively 7 from safety – not the other way round!