Luton Town boss Nathan Jones has given his full backing to talismanic top scorer Elijah Adebayo after his recent quiet run in front of goal. 

Adebayo has seen a dip in his form as Luton look to plot their way out of the Championship via the playoffs.

The forward has scored 16 goals in all competitions so far this season, proving key to his side's push for promotion to the Premier League.

But since scoring against Millwall earlier in April, he has gone five games without a goal. In that time, he also missed a penalty against play-off rivals Huddersfield Town in a 2-0 defeat earlier this month.

That wait for a goal came to an end when Adebayo's deflected cross found its way into the back of the net just two minutes into Luton's clash with Blackpool on Saturday.

Now it seems Jones is aware of Adebayo's importance to his side, even if the striker isn't always finding the back of the net.

Speaking about Adebayo's recent form, the Hatters boss told Luton Today: "For us, he’s wonderful, he works hard, if not harder than any other centre forward in the league.

“He’s 23 years of age, his first full season in the Championship, the boy’s doing wonders.

“His competition would come from people like Dominic Solanke (Bournemouth) and the rest of the centre forwards at this football club."

Jones was quick to highlight that isn't just scoring goals where Adebayo contributes, but his work for the team as well, as he went on to add: “He’s a phenomenal worker, and I’d include Jed Wallace (Millwall) in that as well, so he’s going to have a dip, but the thing that other people can’t see, they give me everything.

“Whatever managers say, I’ve worked with talented groups and expensive groups (when people say) we should’ve won that, should’ve done this. But this group just give each other everything, it’s phenomenal.”
The Verdict Adebayo has been outstanding this season and the reliance on him to score goals for the side is there to see. The next top goalscorer for Luton is Harry Cornick with 11 goals, then Luke Berry with six. As a result, there is not a great deal of options for them to turn to other than Adebayo when it comes to putting the ball in the back of the net. But as Jones rightly points out, his ability to work for the team, unsettle opposition defenders and link up with others is just as important as scoring goals. There aren't many in the division who can cope with Adebayo even out of form, showing his ability. He will return to form but even if he doesn't score goals, his impact will be huge for his side.