Hatters boss expect EFL to investigate Swindon's ineligible player 'mistake'

Luton boss Jack Wilshere has put his faith in the EFL to get to the bottom of tonight’s controversy in the Vertu Trophy that saw Swindon Town make what he described as a ‘mistake’ by bringing on an ineligible player during their 2-1 victory at Kenilworth Road this evening.

The Robins, level at 1-1 in the last 16 tie, made three substitutions at the break, with Billy Kirkman, Joel McGregor and Aaron Drinan all entering the fray, although the latter, their top scorer, with 19 goals already this term, hadn’t been named on the official teamsheet that was submitted prior to the contest.

He was on the field for 15 minutes which saw Swindon take the lead through Filozofe Mabete’s effort, before his inclusion was then brought to the attention of referee Peter Wright by the fourth official, with the game stopped for a good eight minutes. After discussing the incident with his assistants, Wright was then also seen speaking to both Wilshere and visiting boss Ian Holloway, but the game was allowed to continue and play out to an end, as with no further scoring, the visitors triumphed 2-1.

Although Shrewsbury were fined £30,000 for playing an ineligible player during their 3-1 victory over Chelsea U21s in August, it was when on-loan goalkeeper Elyh Harrison hadn’t received written permission from parent club Manchester United, but had been named on the teamsheet. It now remains to be seen whether Swindon are kicked out of the competition, with Luton reinstated, or the Wiltshire club are just hit with a financial penalty instead, but asked about the incident, Wilshere said: “To be honest with you, I didn’t know what to make of it, but I thought it took too long.

"We have to come to a decision quicker, we’re either going to play or we’re not going to play and I wanted to play, I wanted to carry on playing. I think we can get there quicker and it keeps the flow in the game, but they’ve obviously made a mistake and I don’t know the rules but we have to trust that the EFL will look at it, will investigate it and will come to the right decision. I’m trying to focus on the performance, of course that’s a major talking point, I understand that, but we just have to trust the EFL and when they investigate it, let’s see.”

Asked who it was that noticed that Drinan was on the field when he shouldn’t have been, Wilshere continued: “I certainly didn't. I remember before the game when we were looking and their teamsheet came through, Powelly (Chris Powell, assistant) actually noticed it and said that he’s not there as we know that he’s one of their better players, but we still didn't notice when he was on the pitch, so I don't know the answer.”

Questioned as to whether Wright, an official with 20 games under his belt this season at National League to League One level, said to him during their chat, he said: “He didn't say much, that’s why I thought he could have come over quickler or his communication could have been better, because just tell us what’s happening, as I didn’t know. I thought that there was something going around that there’s a player on the pitch, but they weren’t communicating with us and it took seven minutes. Then I went over to say ‘come on, let’s go, let’s try and make a decision,’ and eventually we got there.”

One thing that WIlshere wanted to do though was make sure the fixture was played to a finish, although he confirmed he was never asked whether he had been given the option to call the game off or not himself, adding “No, I kept saying, come on let’s play, but there wasn’t an option. He said ‘let’s finish the game and we’ll investigate it after.’

"I don’t think I have (been involved in a game like that before), honestly I don’t know. I can’t ever remember it happening, but there must have been occasions when it has happened. We just have to trust the EFL, they’ll be investigating it, there’ll probably be discussions going on about it now, and we’ll see what happens.”