Harry Cornick was relieved to see his stunning strike hit the top corner at Leeds last night after getting “stick” for his finishing, but admitted it was “annoying” not having 6,000 travelling Town fans to celebrate with.
The forward missed a golden opportunity at Swansea on Saturday, but got it right in the 50th minute last night, collecting a sublime long though-ball from Ryan Tunnicliffe and, despite Ben White, marshalling him, curling beyond United stopper Illan Meslier, to put Luton in front against the leaders.
Cornick ran to the corner flag to celebrate, but was met with silence and thousands of cardboard cut-outs of Leeds fans in the empty Elland Road stands, due to the Coronavirus social distancing rules that mean football matches are being played behind closed doors.
Asked what it was not to have a full house witness his wonder strike, Cornick said: “It’s not the 40,000 (Leeds fans), it’s the 5,000 or 6,000 Luton fans that would’ve been here. I’m sure they would’ve been.
“It’s annoying that they weren’t here for me not to celebrate in front of, but hopefully they were behind TV screens and celebrating like that.
“It’s a bit annoying playing with no fans, it’s just what we’ve got to do these days. We’ve just got to get on with it.”
The strike was Cornick’s ninth of the season and he arguably should have more on his tally, but he’s missed a series of chances this season, despite being one of Town’s most improved players in the Championship.
He said: “I get a lot of stick for my finishing. It’s not the best, I’m working on it, but I’m happy to find the back of the net and help the team get a result.
“I’m happy for the goal and a few more to come, hopefully. It was a nice finish but I’m still thinking about Saturday’s miss at Swansea with the left foot. That’s the way I’m trying to think of it, but I’m happy to get a goal and get my account up and running again.
“So, I’m hoping I can personally kick on again and get some more goals until the end of the season to help the team.”
Nathan Jones had talked about how Cornick needed to opt for placement rather than power, for his miss against Swansea, which he did perfectly at Elland Road last night.
Asked if those instructions were on his mind when he aimed for the top corner, the forward said: “I didn’t even think about it.
“Instincts kick in a you do what you think is best. You get a split second to think about it. Saturday, I probably had a bit too long to think about it, (last night) I just got through, didn’t have enough time to think about it and just had to get my shot off and thankfully it’s found the top corner and it’s a goal.
“It’s a massive goal for us. They were starting to get on top of us a little bit. We knew our game plan from the start, we had to try and hit them on the counter because they’re a good possession team.
“They keep the ball well and sometimes they commit a few too many bodies forward for the team and they leave spaces open, so Tunni’s played a great ball through and, yeah, I got on the end of it and scored.”
