Hatters forward Harry Cornick spoke of his excitement for the season restart and underlined the squad’s confidence that the Town can avoid the drop this season when he was interviewed for Sky Sports News earlier this week.
The Hatters were on a strong run of form and had picked up 11 points from their previous six games with wins over Sheffield Wednesday, Middlesbrough and Brentford before the season was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But Cornick believes that the three-month break will provide clubs with a fresh start, saying: “It’s a whole new season, you look at some teams they have a great season last season and they don’t hit the ground running the next season.
“We’ve got to look at it that our first game Preston is our first day of the season. That’s how I’m going to look at that, and I’ve got nine games to score as many goals as I can personally, and for Luton we’ve got nine games to get as many points as we can to stay in the division.
“We’ve got nine games and if we win nine, we stay in the league.”
With the Hatters having to play out the remainder of the season behind closed doors, frontman Cornick believes that whilst it will be difficult without the backing of a raucous home crowd at Kenilworth Road, it could prove to be advantageous in tough away fixtures.
“Kenilworth Road is sort of our fortress, our fans were unbelievable, we always packed out and they always sing their hearts out, that was a real advantage for us," he said. "It’s going to be strange with no fans there.
“The away games are going to be different because there’s no fans there. That could work in our advantage.”
The season restart will also mark Nathan Jones’s first game back at Kenilworth Road after returning to the club, and Cornick was quick to praise the manager who signed him from Bournemouth in 2017 for the immediate impact he’s had on the squad.
“He’s come in and he’s implemented his philosophy back in and we’re playing his way again, which is nice for some of the boys," he said.
“He’s an intense man, I mean you’ve got to be on it every day in training. If you’re not then you’ll know about it, he will let you know!
“Hopefully Nathan coming back in is going to be good for the squad and good for the team and hopefully we can hit the ground running.”
Despite losing the reverse fixture at Deepdale back in December, Cornick believes the team’s performance on the day will give the Town plenty of confidence that they can secure all three points this afternoon.
“We owe them one really," added the eight-goal striker. "We know what Preston’s strengths are, we know how they play. I think we managed them really well away from home.
“We nullified their threats at times and countered them really well, so we know what it’s going to take to try and beat Preston.”
