Harry Cornick is hoping the return of Luton fans can inspire him to break his goalscoring duck and give a long-awaited small section of returning supporters reason to dust off his ‘Last Christmas’ chant.
The Hatters attacker is 12 games without a goal this season, having notched nine times last term, and it doesn’t come any harder than trying to find the net for the first time tonight against Championship leaders Norwich City.
The match at Kenilworth Road will see a trial run of 1,000 Town fans allowed back into the stadium for the first time since February, before the Coronavirus pandemic struck and shut fans out of British grounds.
As the first game in December, tonight would be an opportune time to make his mark, with the possibility of supporters reviving their own version of Wham’s festive classic chart-topper, adapted to include Cornick’s name.
“I do like Christmas time, and I do like that chant, so hopefully 1,000 fans can sing it for me after I score,” said the forward, whose last strike came on July 30 against Leeds United.
“We’re excited to play in front of them. We’ve been waiting a long time. It’s only 1,000 to start, but hopefully if we can stick to that and it all goes smoothly then more and more can come and watch and we can be back to full capacity in no time.”
Town have played 26 times inside empty stadia since fans were barred from attending footballing matches all over the UK, including a memorable great escape from Championship relegation on the final day of last season.
“Its a big loss for us,” said Cornick, adding: “Our support, for the last three years that I’ve been here, has been really crucial to our rise up the leagues, so it’s been a big loss.
“It sort of feels normal now, to not play in front of fans, so when you start hearing a few chants going around and people cheering, it’s going to be very strange. I can’t remember our last game (in front of fans) in fact, it was so long ago.”
England today comes out of a month-long lockdown to help ease the second wave of Covid-19, as infections soared. What replaces it is a tiered system of restrictions, with Luton in Tier 2. That means they are allowed to welcome back 2,000 fans, but are starting with half of that tonight, which will be a tenth of the stadium’s capacity.
Cornick said: “It’s better than nothing. It’s 1,000 people, so I don’t know how it’s going to feel, if it’s so spaced out. I’m not sure how it’s going to work but 1,000 people is better than none.
“It will be a bit like when we used to play in the Checkatrade (Trophy), it will be similar to that. They came in their numbers and they made some noise, so hopefully they can get behind us.
“It’s always a good atmosphere at home, it really is, especially on the night games.
“If it can be anything like it used to be, it’s going to be a massive bonus for us and really spur us on in a tough game.”
