Hatters star admits being booed by opposition fans is music to his ears

Being the pantomime villain is something that Hatters on-loan midfielder Kasey Palmer admitted he absolutely thrives on after being cast in the role once more at AFC Wimbledon on Easter Monday.

The 29-year-old had gone somewhat under the radar in the opening 10 minutes at the Cherry Red Records Stadium, finding Nahki Wells for a gilt-edged chance that he put wide, but that was all to change once he produced a superb moment of magic to put the visitors in front, taking Emilio Lawrence’s pass and then dancing around the Dons’ markers inside the area to slam into the top corner.

After celebrating in front of the home stands, from that moment on, Palmer was booed mercilessly, as his every touch was jeered, while there were huge cheers when he put another half volley wide of the target, the home supporters making it abundantly clear what they thought of him. It clearly didn’t affect the Jamaican international one iota though, if anything making him play even better, as he went on to show all of his tricks, including a no-look pass inside his own half, with a big smile on his face to the onlooking Wimbledon followers, on his way to producing one of the best individual displays from a Luton player this season.

He ran the show from start to finish, with just one misplaced pass throughout his 81 minutes on the field, as he created another good chance for Lawrence, going close to a second goal himself, sending one shot over and having led the charge when racing half of the pitch, forced home keeper Nathan Bishop into a fine low save.

Involved in everything that was to like about Luton’s display, of which there was a lot, then asked about the reception he was getting from the home fans, Palmer said: “I don’t really care to be fair, I kind of like it! The more they sing, the more I play better I think. It’s a bit of banter anyway, on days like this, nice weather, bit of banter with the fans, score a goal, it is what it is.

"They just kept going, I scored, then they started singing. I had a bit of banter with a few of them and they kept singing. I thought, flipping hell, it’s going to keep going. It just kept going throughout the whole game, but if it stays as banter then it’s all good. I’m hoping they booed me as I was playing well and not because they thought anything else, but we’ve won the game, I’ve had banter with the fans, our fans are buzzing, that’s the main thing.”

Town chief Jack Wilshere, a player who also would have plenty of prior experience regarding getting up the noses of opposition supporters during his own career for Arsenal, thinks the extra attention is something that can only benefit Palmer’s output, continuing: “He loves that, I think he does thrive off that as we’ve been away from home before and a lot of times opposition fans seem to get on to him.

"I think he takes that as a compliment, which he should. I used to think that, when you’re playing away from home and the opposition fans start to boo you or give you a little bit of stick, it’s because you’re playing well. He takes confidence from that so as long as he keeps playing like that I don’t mind it.”

Having scored three goals in his last five outings, Palmer, who was part of the Reggae Boyz team that failed to qualify for the World Cup Finals after a 1-0 defeat to DR Congo last Tuesday night, really should have been on four when coming off the bench against Peterborough United on Good Friday. There, he danced through the visitors’ back-line once more, only to have his shirt pulled in the act of shooting, a crime that mystifyingly went unpunished by referee Isaac Searle.

It made him more determined to be on the scoresheet when taking the field in south London from the start on Monday, as he continued: “After the chance I had the other day (against Peterborough) it’s been kind of playing on my mind, so I said to the lads, as soon as I get a chance to shoot, I’m shooting. To be fair, it was a better finish than I thought at the time. I’ve watched it back in the changing room, to score again it’s important as I try to get as many goals as I can and help the team. It was important to go 1-0 up just for confidence.”

Having broken the deadlock, the only surprise at the interval was that Town led just by the one solitary strike, such was their complete and utter dominance of the contest. It meant there was always the chance of Wimbledon getting back into the contest, especially with Luton having been guilty of frittering away a number of leads in recent weeks, but this time they made sure that wasn’t the case, putting their hosts to the sword, as Ali Al-Hamadi and Jake Richards were on target to ensure the Hatters’ superiority was rewarded.

The significance of Al-Hamadi making it 2-0 wasn’t lost on Palmer either, who continued: “The second goal was the most important I think, and I’m buzzing for Ali to get his goal. We knew we’ve had games where it’s gone to the wire, we’ve conceded late and then it gets nervy, so we knew as soon as we scored the second goal it kind of killed the game and then we could kick on and get the third.

"The second goal was massive, as soon as Ali got it, it relaxed everyone and then we scored the third which for us I think we could have done more this season and killed teams of. If we didn’t score two or three we’d have been disappointed with the amount of chances we had today. We probably could have scored more, we had chances, I had chances, but it was good we had three different goalscorers as well. Jake to score again, he’s a top talent and Ali to get his goal is very important, it’s just disappointing with Nahki coming off and we’ll see how that goes.”