A memorable evening of football against Accrington Stanley at fortress Kenilworth Road on Tuesday night saw Danny Hylton bag his first ever hat-trick in Sky Bet League One, and leap frog James Collins and Elliot Lee to top the leading goal scorer table in style.
You wouldn’t have thought the striker had been out for almost nine weeks as he finished off three chances, ensuring the match ball left the field tightly in his arms.
The 29-year-old certainly enjoyed the night as ‘Super Danny Hylton’ reverberated off the Kenny’s old girders, spurring the Hatters on to an emphatic win which dissolved any lingering bad memories of Stanley’s last visit to Bedfordshire.
Speaking after the match, Hylton said: “I love scoring goals so to score a hat-trick is a great feeling. It’s a bit cliché but the main thing is that we got the three points and we moved up the league.
“We’ve got a good home record now. The last time we lost here was against Accy so it’s a good night, a good result and a good performance. We sort of owed Accy one, didn’t we? They beat us here last year, so it was a good day all round.
“I played in League Two for a long time and managed to score a few goals so I’m just happy that now I’ve moved up a level, I finally got the chance and I’m scoring goals. I’ll keep trying to do that but when you’re playing in a team with such great players with such great ability, you’re going to get chances, so you just have to make sure you’re alive and sharp and try and take them.”
The game was only fiveminutes old when Hylton managed to side foot over the oncoming Maxted to put the Hatters in front after a wonderful pass from James Justin.
The ex-Oxford forward made it two for the night, and three for the Town, when he was left unmarked in the area from Andrew Shinnie’s cross. He finished off his treble when he latched onto Sonny Bradley’s towering header across the box from Jorge Grant’s pinpoint free-kick delivery.
Speaking of the first, he said: “You know with JJ, he’s got great quality, left foot, right foot it doesn’t matter and when he got it, I was just praying that he picked me out and he did. I wanted it to my foot which is where I’m more comfortable and to be fair, I didn’t have to break stride, so I just had to try and hit the back of the net.
Speaking of the second, he continued: “Again I was sort of praying that no one got a touch on it and it’s a great pull back (from Shinnie) and I just had to make sure that I got good contact and it’s hit the back of the net, I’m happy.”
The third sealed victory, Hylton added: “It was a great ball in, Sonny is massive so you know he is going to win headers, you’ve just got to try and find space in the box. He’s got great contact on it and I wouldn’t say I couldn’t miss, I’ve probably missed easier chances than that before, but I’m glad that again, I managed to get good contact and see the ball go in the back of the net.”
The feisty encounter produced an atmosphere for Hylton to thrive in. Nothing was getting in the way of what was a dominant performance from the number nine who responded to any negativity in the best way possible.
The striker concluded: “It’s always nice if you’re getting stick because the best way to answer that is to go and score a hat-trick, isn’t it?”
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