Luton boss felt Town fans saw what they wanted during Cobblers win

Hatters boss Jack Wilshere felt that Luton’s supporters saw plenty about their side that they had wanted to witness during Wednesday evening’s 2-1 Vertu Trophy semi-final victory over Northampton Town.

Following a 1-1 draw at bottom side Port Vale on Saturday in which Town simply didn’t demonstrate anywhere near enough attacking intent in the second half in particular, thankful to keeper Josh Keeley for emerging with a point, the hosts looked a far more potent threat against the Cobblers, racking up 20 shots on the night, with seven on target. Two of those found the net too, Nahki Wells and Liam Walsh both scoring to send the club to Wembley in the final next month, as having been enthused by what they witnessed, the players were roared off by the home supporters, enthused by the prospect of another trip to the home of English football.

It was a far cry from some of the receptions that Town’s players and management staff have had to deal with during a difficult season the pitch to date, none more so than less than a fortnight ago when drawing 1-1 against Burton Albion, roundly booed off at the full time whistle then, as asked about the positive response from those at Kenilworth Road on this occasion, Wilshere said: “I think the fans saw a lot of things that they want to see and that was a team on the front foot, a team pressing high, a team winning duels, a team that attacks with purpose.

"I felt at half time there was a little bit of frustration, but I felt that was okay as we started the game with purpose and intent and then we were knocked back a little bit by their goal. We still had control of the game, but we have to recognise the moments to attack with purpose, to attack with intent, which I think we did really well in the second half and the fans saw that.

“They saw the same behaviours out of possession, winning duels, we’re running, we’re attacking. I said the players a lot that we have to do those things, we have to make sure we really do those things every single game because I believe that we’ve got a lot of quality in the group. You can see it at times, but you have to make sure you do the basics, do the ugly things and we’re doing that really well.”

Having drawn level at 1-1 and then moved 2-1 ahead with eight minutes left, Wilshere was pleased his side didn’t make the same mistake as they had in that 1-1 home draw against the Brewers, when they conceded an equaliser in the final moments, looking to press home their clear advantage with a third, rather than hold on during what was an extra eight minutes of stoppage time added on.

He continued: “How many times have we spoken about that where we want to be that team? I think you can see in the last 10 minutes maybe last five minutes and eight minutes added on, if we want to be the team that is just seeing the game out, we’ve got to get better at that. We’re not good at that at the moment, so we need to keep playing, keep asking teams to defend and keep going with the way we were going, but also accepting at times that the pressure is going to come.

"We’ve also sat here and spoken about suffering a lot and we have to accept that at times. We will do that when teams play the way they do against us, so yes, we wanted to go and get the third, and probably felt like we should have had it within the game, but ultimately it was about winning and we did that.”

Asked just how much he will look forward to taking his team to Wembley next month, Wilshere, who has eight league games to navigate first, those matches critical to Town’s slim hopes of attaining a play-off place, believes the unity he has been trying to create since taking over in October, and is finally starting to show at times, will be crucial for what he hopes is a double celebration come the end of the campaign.

The boss insisted that more moments like Wednesday night can only help improve that too, adding: “It’s a big day for everyone because even since I’ve been here it’s not always been perfect for us, it’s not always gone our way. We need to be better in some moments, we need to be more consistent in the league and try and get up the league and put a run together which we’re trying really hard to do.

"But I feel like in the tough moments, my message was always the same to the players, it was to stick together, to believe, to show unity. Let’s stick to what we’re trying to do, let’s show you the good things, let’s show you the bad things, but the most important thing is we show unity and stick together. So credit to the players, they have to act like that, they have to behave like that, they have to really believe in that and I felt since I’ve been here, we do and they’re all in.

"They’re trying to give everything they can to turn it around and then when you get a moment like we did with everyone, with the fans, with the staff, it brings us even closer. We have to build on this, we have to keep going the same way and keep trying to improve in the league, keep trying to win games there, but also having in mind we’ve got a final to look forward to.”