Carlton Morris: Luton Town striker looks to erase bad memory of Wembley
- Published
Carlton Morris suffered a serious knee injury when he played for Shrewsbury Town at Wembley five years ago
Championship play-off final: Coventry City v Luton Town |
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Date: Saturday, 27 May Venue: Wembley Kick-off: 16:45 BST Coverage: Live text commentary on BBC Sport website and app, live radio commentary on BBC CWR and BBC Three Counties Radio, updates on BBC Radio 5 live |
Luton top scorer Carlton Morris hopes to erase the memory of past play-off disappointment when they face Coventry with a Premier League place at stake.
He has contributed 20 goals this season to help the Hatters reach Saturday's Championship final at Wembley.
Morris was previously in the Shrewsbury Town side beaten 2-1 by Rotherham United in the League One final in 2018.
"Unfortunately I did my ACL and we lost so it was a double whammy for me," he told BBC Three Counties Radio.
"The worst has already happened to me at Wembley so I've got nothing to fear going into the game [against Coventry]. Any experience can be turned into a positive and that has for me."
Morris, 27, joined Luton from Barnsley last summer, having lost to Swansea in the Championship play-off semi-finals with the South Yorkshire club in 2021.
That was also Luton's fate a year ago, when they were beaten by Huddersfield Town over two legs, but his goals have helped them go one better this term.
And having come from behind to beat Sunderland 3-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals, the Hatters are now just one win away from becoming the first club to be relegated from the top flight, drop down to the National League and bounce back to reach the Premier League.
"I remember when Luton got promoted out of the National League. My friend Cam McGeehan got promoted with them," said Morris, who was in the Norwich City youth set-up at the time.
"I remember vividly him in the orange kit celebrating at Kenilworth Road. To think back to then and the situation we're in now, it's incredible."
Carlton Morris scored both goals when Luton drew 2-2 with Coventry at Kenilworth Road
Both regular-season games against Coventry ended in draws - 2-2 at Luton last September and 1-1 in the Midlands in February.
Morris believes Luton must keep cool heads to secure a place in the top flight for the first time since 1992, but says scoring the winning goal at Wembley would be "perfect".
"In an ideal world that'd be what happens. But I'll take anyone scoring at this point, as long as we get the result we want," he added.
"It's hard not to think about the carrot at the end, but we've got to stay focused, stay concentrated. [On]Occasions like this you can get a bit too excited and not think rationally at the time."
One Luton player unlikely to be involved on Saturday is forward Cauley Woodrow, who also made the move to Kenilworth Road from Barnsley last summer.
The season has not gone to plan for him with just five starts and two goals in the league and he has been troubled by a knee problem.
"He was desperate to try and get back as quickly as possible. He's been a really important player for us, and will continue to be, but I just think it's going to be too soon for him, this one," said head coach Rob Edwards.
The former Forest Green and Watford boss has no other injury concerns and has been concentrating on "being consistent and keeping things as normal as we can" in the build-up.
"I suppose what we have is a little bit more time than normal to prepare for a game," he added. "The one thing you can do [in that situation] is go overboard with stuff, but we've tried to keep things pretty clear and concise."