Manager Rob Edwards hailed Carlton Morris’ stellar season as Luton’s top scorer sunk Bristol City with his third match-winner in 11 days.
The striker headed in Cody Drameh’s cross in the fourth minute and that was enough to notch his 16th of the campaign, the last three of which have all been decisive in a hat-trick of 1-0 victories on the spin for the Hatters.
The triumph strengthened Town’s Championship play-off credentials, moving them to within a point of third-placed Middlesbrough while extending their buffer on the chasing pack from five to seven points.
Success by a solitary goal – the eighth win by that scoreline this term – is becoming a formidable result for Town and manager Edwards’ side.
He said: “How good was the cross, as well? The cross was brilliant. A fantastic header, and a one-touch finish between the posts.
“I keep saying to the lads to get in the right areas. We’ve had a few 1-0 wins lately, with Carlton being the goalscorer. He’s helped get us a lot of points but obviously, it’s a team game. But it’s a fantastic finish.”
Morris’ first campaign for the Hatters since becoming the club’s record signing in the summer, is his best-ever goalscoring return and he’s in red-hot form with five in his last seven. But for Edwards, hitting the net in not his number nine’s only attribute.
“He can get hold of it, he can give you a first ball, header, chest, bring people into play, and he’ll press and run for the team as well,” said the manager.
“He’s got so many qualities to his game, goal number 16 I think now in the league. It’s an outstanding season for him and, hopefully, that can continue as well.
“For a goalscorer, they need service, they need a team around them and the team as a whole were very, very good.”
Luton could’ve made it a more comfortable scoreline, with Elijah Adebayo twice going close in the first half and Luke Berry and Morris seeing shots saved by Max O’Leary, while home goalkeeper Ethan Horvath is matching Morris’ goal haul with clean sheets.
Edwards told the BBC: “I thought the performance in the first half was excellent. We were on the front foot, we were a real threat, created big chances, and everything that we want to be, we were.
“They remained a threat on the counter-attack and we had to manage that, but I thought the first half was pretty much one-way traffic.
“As we all know, two halves of football are never exactly the same and then when we didn’t get that second goal, they can gain a little bit of confidence and belief from that, then we all know we’ve got to make sure that we see the game out.
“We still had a couple of big chances in the second half, a great save from Carlton’s header and we got into some good areas, but as a team, we defend really, really well, and we had to show that at the end of the game.”
