Luton boss disappointed Town's players didn't heed his warnings before Port Vale draw
Hatters breached twice by bottom side at Kenilworth Road
Luton boss Jack Wilshere was disappointed Town’s players didn’t heed the precise warnings he had given them when conceding twice against Port Vale in a 2-2 draw at Kenilworth Road on Saturday.
The visitors came into the match on the back of a lengthy league goal drought stretching back to October 11, a run spanning over six games and nine hours of football, as unsurprisingly it meant they hadn’t won a third tier contest since September 27. After a fairly positively from the hosts, Luton put themselves into the box seats when Cohen Bramall whipped home a truly stunning free kick on 27 minutes to give his team the ascendancy.
Having told his players to watch out for the visitors’ main threats, those being from free kicks and corners, plus transition phases, prior to the contest, the Hatters then conceded a cheap set-piece themselves just before half time though Milli Alli’s needless foul. It allowed Ruari Paton send in a peach of a ball and despite Town having four centre halves on the pitch, Ben Waine was able to lose Jacob Brown to plant his header beyond Josh Keeley.
The second half then saw Luton start simply awfully, on the back foot from the word go, not clearing their lines and allowing Paton to advance into the box, Keeley parrying his shot, only to see the ball just bobble through to top scorer Devante Cole who tapped into the empty net. With the mood among the crowd worsening, the Hatter almost conceded again, Paton shooting wide, but to their credit, they were able to fight back for a point from a set-piece of their own through Mads Andersen.
However, on the way in which his side were breached twice, a critical Wilshere said: “I felt like the first 10 minutes, it was a slow start, we were trying to make it into the game we want and they were trying to make it into the game they want. I would probably say we edged it a little bit, we got our a goal and then we really threatened to take control, be on the front foot. I’m not sure what happened, I think an injury happened or someone was down for a while as then for some reason we lost our rhythm a little bit.
"We gave away a cheap foul in the corner and against teams like this you can't do that because you know it’s one of their big threats, but we didn't defend it well enough. I didn’t feel like there was much of a threat afterwards, but I thought if they were going to do anything against us it would either be a transition goal which was the second goal, or a set-piece goal, so when you go into a game and you know that and then it happens it’s disappointing, and we’ll try and help the players with that.”
One of the most concerning aspects of the game was the way in which Town began the second period, as the Valiants, despite their lowly position at the foot of the table, were by far the better team in the opening moments. They were able to make the most of too though Paton’s goal, as Wilshere couldn’t work out just why his side were so bad, adding: “They were landing on second balls, they had the momentum, they were on the front foot, they were putting balls in our box and we couldn't really get control, couldn’t get close to them.
"I don’t know why, I’ll have to look at it back, but they definitely started the second half better. It’s a transition goal and we knew that. They didn’t have to do much to score that goal and we have to find a way to stop giving the opposition those moments. It’s difficult because of the league we’re in, but we have to find a way as just don’t concede that goal, because we don’t have to concede that goal. There’s things we can do that are quite simple to avoid that, and we go on to win the game, so it’s frustrating.”