Luton boss felt Town were denied a 'definite penalty' in Trotters draw
Town chief felt Yates was clearly fouled in the area
Luton boss Jack Wilshere was left aggrieved that his side were denied what he termed a ‘definite penalty’ during their 1-1 draw against Bolton Wanderers yesterday.
Just after the midway point in the first half, and with the Hatters trailing 1-0 to to Aaron Morley’s early opener, striker Jerry Yates twisted and turned in the box, inviting an ill-advised challenge from visiting centre half George Johnston who appeared to clearly catch his opponent and send him tumbling to the floor.
Referee Ruebyn Ricardo saw otherwise though, waving play on as midfielder Liam Walsh almost made the Trotters pay only to slice his shot over the bar. Town should have been having an attempt from 12 yards instead though according to Wilshere, who also thought the hosts had claims for another spotkick too when George Saville was challenged shortly afterwards, but it was the first incident which Town's manager was most frustrated with during his post match press conference, saying: “That for me is a definite penalty. The other one is Sav which maybe I can see why he didn’t give that one, but the one with Yatesy is a penalty, he didn’t even touch the ball.”
Despite not getting that decision, Luton weren’t without their chances in a first half that the visitors had looked the more cohesive side for large parts, as it wasn’t until the second period where the Hatters began to demonstrate some territorial dominance, particularly when the Trotters were reduced to 10-men, midfielder Xavier Simons sent off for his second yellow card on 70 minutes.
It allowed Gideon Kodua to rescue a point with just seven minutes to go, the substitute finishing well on his left foot from inside the box, as Wilshere felt it was just reward for the extra belief his side exuded after the break, adding: “We arrived in some good areas without actually being able to execute. The set-piece where Browny (Jacob Brown) puts it in, he kicks it at Yatesy and it goes over. Lamine (Fanne) had a moment where he probably could score or at least get his shot off, Walshy had a good attempt, but that should give us some confidence.
"It should, because I tried to get the players to believe before the game and even if they didn’t quite believe in the first half, you could then see in the second half that they’ve felt what it was like and then they’ve backed themselves in the second half to go and try and win the game, which that’s all you can ask for.”