Nottingham Forest loanee Jorge Grant certainly made a name for himself against Shrewsbury on Saturday after his brilliant second-half free-kick nestled in the top left corner to bring the Hatters back into the game.
It was ex-Luton midfielder Shaun Whalley who put the Shrews 1-0 up from the penalty spot in the first half, but Grant was the man who curled in a stunner to level the game in the 51st minute, although the excitement didn’t end there.
After a freak goal for another ex-Hatter, Lee Angol, saw the visitors regain the lead, it was down to the Hatters to come from behind again to win the game 3-2.
Grant was delighted to get his first goal in orange and back to back wins for the first time, after a tough start to life in League One.
The 23-year-old told iFollow Hatters (click on the image above to see the video): “I’m very happy to get off the mark. It’s only taken me a few games so it’s good. I love scoring free-kicks, so I’m really happy.
“I think we needed it. As soon as we came out in the second half, we looked like we had bit more energy about us and obviously we’ve pushed on for the win.
“I think the teams that we’ve played at the start are going to be up there and I wouldn’t say that we’ve had bad performances in those games. Maybe the first half against Peterborough we weren’t great, but against Portsmouth we were good as well. I think once we got that first win, we were always going to push on and we have with back to back wins.”
With both free-kick takers in Lee and Grant getting on the scoresheet, the midfielder insists that there is no serious competition between the two of them as to who steps up to have a shot.
“Me and Elliot have spoken about free-kick responsibility before,” said Grant. “We both practice them on the training pitch together so if one of us doesn’t hit the target then the other one will take one. We’ve both scored one today so it’s very good.”
The 23-year-old agreed that Angol’s goal for the visitors, after James Shea had put the ball down in the belief that referee Carl Boyeson had blown for a free-kick for offside, was possibly one of the most bizarre goals he has ever witnessed on a football pitch before.
But the error was quickly erased as he used it as the catalyst to spur himself and the rest of the team on to get the win.
“It was a freak goal,” said Grant. “I don’t think you will ever see many like that ever again to be honest with you. But we’ve shown great character to get back in the game, it could have been four, but we’ve played quite well in the second half.
“He’s thought he has heard the whistle and put the ball down as if it was a free-kick, thinking the Shrewsbury player was offside. I don’t think their players even realised until their bench was screaming at them. It was just one of them, a freak accident and we’ve got to move on from it.”
The midfielder, who has started four out of the five league games with the Hatters this season, is happy with his progress but hopes to make more of an impact in the future at Kenilworth Road.
He added: “I know I’ve got much more to give. I’m a bit disappointed that I’m not at the top of my game yet but that will come, obviously with games and playing at this level. It’s nice to get the goal today so hopefully I can push on now.”