Hatters boss hugely impressed by ex-Bolton skipper's 'love for defending'

Hatters boss Jack Wilshere has been left greatly impressed by new signing George Johnston’s ‘love for defending’ as it shone through during his first run-out at Kenilworth Road on Sunday.

The former Bolton Wanderers skipper was Luton’s first addition of the summer transfer window back in June, snapped up on a free transfer after leaving the Trotters despite playing 49 games last term and captaining the side to a League One play-off final victory over Stockport County at Wembley.

Having impressed against Hitchin Town and Barnet in his first two warm-up contests, also featuring against Al Kholood when Town faced the Saudi Pro League side out in Spain, the 27-year-old then had his and Luton’s sternest test to date, taking on Eredivisie opponents Go Ahead Eagles on home soil at the weekend.

With the Dutch side dominating possession in the first period, Johnston and his team-mates spent the majority of the opening 45 minutes in a containing role, limiting their opponents to just three real shots, although one of them, Stefan Sigurdason’s volley on the half hour mark, flew past Josh Keeley for what proved to be the only goal of the game.

With Town improving as the contest progressed, Johnston showed exactly why Wilshere was so keen to bring him in to bolster his back-line, reading the play impressively to snuff out several Eagles’ attacks, timing his sliding tackles to perfection when needed, also impressive in the air too. The ex-Liverpool youngster looked good on the ball himself as well, but what attribute shone through the most, as it did against Barnet too, was his desire to keep play away from the Hatters’ area, clearing his lines effectively whenever the need arose.

It was clearly one of the main reasons that saw Luton so keen to sign him, as when Wilshere was asked about Johnston, who was also named man of the match, he stated: “You can see he’s got a mentality, a love for defending, which I really like. We can work with him, he’s good with the ball, but all these things you can add to his game.

“He has that mentality to really want to defend and that’s infectious as well through the back-line, so really happy with how he’s been since he’s come in for pre-season. He’s settled in really well, he understands what we want from him defensively and he’s kind of leading that line so I’m happy with that.”

Having built up with matches against lower league sides, and a week away training in Spain, Wilshere had wanted a 90 minutes where his players had to suffer at times, and they got just that, going up against an Eagles side who were happy to keep the ball in any area of the pitch. Town did match them the longer the contest wore on, as in the second period, Jordan Clark, Liam Walsh and Jake Richards were all denied by visiting keeper Kjetil Haug, with Devante Cole skewing wide late on too.

Wilshere added: “We definitely knew that coming into the game and when we prepared pre-season, it would be a different challenge. We might get that in a few games this season, but probably not to that level of quality. That being said, there’s clear things we need to improve, but defensively, without really putting the pressure on we wanted, we contained them.

"I thought our distances were good, I thought our back-line did really well, organising that, as it’s hard to manage that when they have time on the ball, they’re rotating, they’re running and looking for a threat in behind. It’s hard when you’re really asked to think and focus defensively. When you win the ball back, there’s not then the moment to rest, especially the first three or four passes, because we do exactly the same.

"When we lose the ball we want to hunt it, we want to counter-press really quick. Dutch teams are really good at that as well and I thought they were good at it, so we have to match that intensity, but the biggest thing within that is coverage, personality and bravery to play, which we didn’t always have at times. Overall they had two chances which we’re happy with, we’re proud of the players for that, however, we need to be better with the ball.”