Nathan Jones says he needs to find the perfect partner for Carlton Morris after Elijah Adebayo was dropped to the bench in Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with Coventry.
While the club record summer signing from Barnsley bagged both goals to take his tally to five in five games, last term’s top scorer is in the midst of a drought.
That stretches back to April 23, though Adebayo missed the last three weeks of the season through injury, save for a late, desperate roll of the dice to try to rescue the play-off semi-final against Huddersfield despite being clearly unfit.
Adebayo had started Town’s previous eight Championship games but was dropped in midweek and replaced by Harry Cornick.
The returning forward was involved in both goals, providing a sublime assist for Morris second, which rubber-stamped that the number nine is in a red-hot streak.
Manager Jones said: “We need to find a partnership and someone that’s with him and scoring goals as well because he can’t share that burden on his own.
“He’s doing wonderfully well, his hold-up play, his link play, is fantastic. He’s everything we brought him in for, but we’ve just got to be better (in defence).”
Asked if Adebayo was benched to take him out of the firing line, Jones said: “He’s played eight, hasn’t scored and he was struggling with a little bit of a knock from the other day, so we took him out.
“He came on and had real impetus when he came on. He should’ve scored. He looked better and he looked right at it, so I’m pleased with his reaction and that’s a real good thing.
“Strikers go through peaks and troughs in their career, it’s how they come out of them and how they show that character and that’s what he’s got to do.”
Adebayo didn’t have long to wait for a return to the pitch after Cornick came off at the break with a tight hamstring, having been out injured there, which had restricted him to just three prior league games.
Jones said: “He’s just had a tight hamstring and he’s just come back from a hamstring (injury), so rather than risk him, we have to make a change.
“We’ve got the squad to be able to do that, so that’s all it was, just precaution.
“He’s been sharp. We’ve missed him. He’s a real threat and it’s a real good partnership for him (with Morris).
“We couldn’t play him any longer because he had a stiff hamstring and then we’re into injury territory, so we didn’t want that to happen to him.”
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