Joyous Wilshere admits Marshall's winner was even better than scoring himself
Town boss elated to defeat the Foxes late on
A jubilant Hatters boss Jack Wilshere admitted the feeling of Callum Marshall’s injury-time winner against Leicester City on Saturday surpassed anything he ever felt as a player himself.
It had looked like Town were going to leave Kenilworth Road frustrated, as having led since the 39th minute when Nahki Wells swept home Jordan Clark’s pass for his eighth of the season, the visitors then reduced to 10 men with five minutes left when John Lundstram was sent off, they were then pegged back in the final seconds, Liam Cullen bending a terrific finish past James Shea from the edge of the box.
Undeterred, and with seven minutes of injury time added, Luton demonstrated impressive reserves of character to go up the other end and made sure it was they who took all three points, Marshall nudging Emilio Lawrence’s deflected cross-shot into the net to win it. Once the summer signing’s attempt hit the net, Wilshere charged down the touch-line to celebrate in front of the home supporters housed in the Kenilworth Road end, in scenes reminiscent of one of his predecessors, Nathan Jones, following Kal Naismith’s last-gasp strike against AFC Bournemouth back in January 2022.
Asked how it felt when he saw the ball cross the line, Wilshere said: “I loved it so much! That feeling, I said to the players in the huddle, I thanked them for it, because it’s the best feeling. Honestly, it’s better than playing, it’s better than scoring a goal when you were a player, especially in that context and those circumstances. I wanted the players to celebrate this side so I could get in with them. I did contemplate running the other side of the pitch, but some of you might know we’re doing 5k a day (for prostate cancer) and I’ve done mine already, so there was no chance I was getting over there.”
What pleased Wilshere the most was that once Cullen’s effort had flown in and denied Town their second clean sheet of the campaign, not one player in an orange shirt took that as the points being shared, instead remaining on the front foot to try and steal a winner. He continued: “There was an acceptance. We don’t want it to happen, of course we don’t, we don’t want that to happen and when we review it, I’m sure there’ll be a few things we could do to avoid it, however this is football, this is League One, we’re playing against a good team that can score goals and it’s accepting it, and saying, yes okay, and then you’ve got a decision to make.
“That’s probably the biggest learning I think today and the most important thing from today is that in the 88th minute, when they equalise with 10 men, when you look at the players, you see it in them and it's their behaviours, their body language, their mentality. I saw it right there in front of my eyes, and they got what they deserved.”
Discussing the match-winner, who has had to make do with a spell on the bench recently, not starting since the 1-0 home loss to Bradford City over a month ago, Wilshere was thrilled the Northern Ireland international, along with his fellow substitutes Lawrence and Jake Richards, were able to have such a decisive impact, adding: “That’s what we need from Marshy.
"Marshy needs to fight his way into the team, the same with Emilio, the same with Jake, the same with the other players on the bench and not in the squad and the ones coming back. That is an environment thing, it’s a culture thing. I can accept players that are disappointed, but what I can’t accept is if players come on the pitch and they don’t help the team, and we’re starting to get there with that.”