Hatters boss tells Wells and his Town team-mates not to 'beat yourselves up' after Stags loss

Luton boss Jack Wilshere revealed he told both striker Nahki Wells and his players to not beat themselves up too much following Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at home to Mansfield.

The hosts, who were being led by their new manager for the first time, almost fell behind early on when a completely unmarked Tyler Roberts was denied by Josh Keeley, although they did go on to grow into the game, winning a penalty when Jordan Clark was tripped in the area by Kyle Knoyle on 33 minutes. It saw summer signing Wells, who had scored his first spotkick against Plymouth Argyle, only to miss his last one, when Doncaster Rovers keeper Ian Lawlor was able to palm away, step up once more, despite Gideon Kodua, who kept his cool from 12 yards in stoppage time against Blackpool recently to make it 2-2, being on the field.

Having assumed responsibility, the 35-year-old went on to be denied once more, putting his shot too close to Liam Roberts, who was able to cling on, the eighth spotkick he has missed from 30 attempts in his lengthy career. To make matters worse, just a few minutes later, Wells, keen to atone for his error, came deep to receive possession and try to pick out Kal Naismith who was breaking forward, only to send his pass behind him.

It was seized upon by Rhys Oates who wasted no time in bending a wonderful shot around Josh Keeley and into the top corner to break the deadlock. Wells then should have ended a disappointing first half by being booked for a late tackle, as although he came out after the break, once Town went 2-0 down, Roberts showing just how it was done from the spot, he made way for Jerry Yates, his substitution receiving some sarcastic applause from a section of home supporters.

Defending his forward when speaking to the press afterwards, Wilshere said: “I said to Nahki in that 10 to 15 minute spell where we had some good moments, I thought he was instrumental with his positioning, his timing to arrive and help link play. Of course he’ll be disappointed, he’s an experienced player who we need, we need him. He probably feels down today but we need him.

"My job is to speak to the players and see who’s comfortable doing it (taking a penalty), find that out and then my job is to pick who takes the penalty. We had Gideon and Nahki on the pitch, but then I’m always a believer as well in that moment it’s down to a certain player who wants it and Nahki fancied it. I said to Nahki it can happen and then he had a bad moment where he gives the ball away.

“It just shows you in this league we want to play but we also need to be pragmatic and sensible enough to do it in the right areas. I actually thought that was the right area, Nahki’s timing, he showed a lot of courage, he wanted to come and play, wanted to try and do the right thing, take a touch and then he has to execute technically better with the pass.

“It’s a technical error so you practice technique and building connections and understandings. I thought tactically you could see what they were trying to do and the connection was there, it was just a technical error which can happen, but we can also make sure we have in our training days technical practices that improve us on the ball, which we will, so there’s loads we can do.

"That was probably a spell that we were having and it’s turned, so absolutely fine that Nahki does that and we just need to react in the right way. But I learnt that about this league as well. You can have a spell where you think that you’re in control and then something can happen and the game changes, so loads we need to look at but some positives.”

With Town’s confidence levels at an all-time low then once they fell behind, it always looked an uphill task getting something from the game as when Roberts was successful from the spot, any hopes that Luton were capable of conjuring any kind of fight back quickly evaporated. Having spoken about how spirits had been high during his first week in training, there was no sign of that for the final half an hour, with the visitors able to hold on to their lead with absolute ease, ensuring the hosts were jeered off once more by an increasingly frustrated Kenilworth Road crowd.

Asked about the difference from what he had seen at the Brache to a match-day, Wilshere added: “When I think about that, I felt that reactions and the energy and the confidence in training was there, but you also have to remember that training every single day and working hard is one thing, but when you cross that white line on Saturday’s it’s a completely different kettle of fish.

"There’s pressure, external factors, there’s social media, different things like that, so I said to the lads after, we can do better and I’ll show you on Monday what we can do better, but I’ll also show you some really good things that we did so don’t beat yourselves up too much. I said to them, I believe in them, it doesn’t change as we lose a game. I’ve lost so many games in my career as a player, as a coach. Sometimes in those moments, it’s a cliche, but you do, you learn a lot about people, about players. I’ll be taking all these lessons and trying to think what I think, what we think as coaches, is the best way to move forward.”