Luton boss glad to see Wells score although insists he has been 'happy' with experienced striker

Although declaring he had been happy with striker Nahki Wells’ efforts since he took over, Luton boss Jack Wilshere was glad to see the experienced forward end his barren spell in front of goal when bagging an FA Cup brace against Forest Green Rovers on Friday night.

After moving to Kenilworth Road on a free transfer in the summer following his departure from Bristol City, Wells had started six out of Town’s first 11 League One matches under previous manager Matt Bloomfield, coming on as a substitute in three of the other games too, but only scoring once, that from the penalty spot in the 3-2 home defeat at Plymouth Argyle.

With Wilshere taking over last month, Wells began the new manager’s first fixture in charge, only to miss from the spot in the 2-0 loss against Mansfield, also giving the ball away for the Stags’ opener, as his second half substitution was met by some sarcastic cheers from a small section of home fans.

He kept his place for the following 1-0 win over Northampton Town though, but struggled in front of goal once more, stabbing over from a few yards out in the first period, also heading off target from close range in the second when Gideon Kodua’s curling attempt cannoned back off the bar and then firing wide when put clean through late on.

Despite that, the 35-year-old was up top yet again when Luton hosted their National League opponents in front of the TNT Sports cameras, and he repaid the faith shown in him by Wilshere when setting up Lamine Fanne for the opener, before his own moment of glory, following up Cohen Bramall’s free kick that was spilled by visiting goalkeeper Fiachra Pagel to tap home for his first FA Cup goal since netting for Bristol City against Millwall in January 2021.

He put another volley off target before the break, but after the interval, Wells was celebrating once more, Fanne returning the favour for the striker to tap home from a few yards, the 10th goal of his career in the competition. The Bermuda international was also sniffing his treble before making way for Jerry Yates, hammering one attempt that just didn’t come down in time, as discussing his first goal in six encounters, Wilshere said: “It’s important, because, listen, I was happy with Nahki since I’ve come in.

"I’ve told him that and he brings so much more than goals, but that being said, the life of a number nine, the way they think, when he’s driving home at night, he’ll be thinking about that, so to get a couple of goals will be nice for him and hopefully he can go on a run now. He got the assist and he almost helped with a lovely goal when Lamine put it wide as Nahki was at the heart of that. He comes low and then he spins and joins in and he’s creative, but I’m happy he scored as well.

“I think you can see, the game, you need numbers in the middle of the pitch in this game, especially in this league. there’s a lot of times where either they play long and the second ball ends up there, or you play a little bit longer and the second ball ends up there, but also as well, overloading that area especially for us right now as a team it helps. The more players we have closer to the ball in the build-up will help us at the moment.

"Of course if teams start to be aggressive and jump in certain areas then we know we’ve got pace to hurt them in behind, but Nahki has been really, really good at that and impressed me. I’ve seen Nahki play for years and years, I played against him when he was at Bradford and always thought of him probably as a goalscorer, a poacher, but he’s got so much more than that. He understands the game, he’s a leader and we’re really happy with him. Ultimately what he wants to do is score goals and he did that.”