Luton boss thrilled to see his players finally show the belief that was sorely lacking

Hatters boss Jack Wilshere believes his side’s newfound belief is starting to shine through, with Sunday’s Vertu Trophy final win over Stockport County a huge case in point.

It was just over a month ago that the Luton chief was speaking to the press following a 1-1 draw against Port Vale, a result that saw Town stretch their winless run on the road to a deflating seven matches in the process, as he said following a goalless second half that saw the visitors jeered off once more by their travelling supporters: “I still feel like there’s a lack of belief and a lack of confidence. The players for me are good enough, definitely. I just think it’s the belief thing and I know people will probably get bored of hearing it, but that’s the reality, that’s the reality of where we’re at and we have to try somehow to get out of it.”

Although what followed in the league was another huge low, Town letting a 2-1 lead slip in the final seven minutes to lose 3-2 against Reading on home soil, since then, things have improved, and quite dramatically as well, Luton winning five out of their last seven league games, claiming 17 points from a possible 21.

They finally ended their torrid away form with back-to-back victories at Wycombe and AFC Wimbledon, also lifting the Vertu Trophy in front of almost 50,000 supporters at Wembley, going on to make it three league wins in a row for the first time in almost a year when beating Northampton Town 2-1 on Wednesday night.

Asked whether he can now see the belief he so desperately craved emanating from his squad, Wilshere said: “Yes I do, I genuinely do see that. I thought Wembley was a big marker for that as when you go one-nil down on a stage like that and then the players stick to everything we spoke about, go even more with the intensity to try and do it.

"I’ve said it before that you have to try and go through bad things, experience bad moments, bad periods in a season which we definitely have to then come out the other side. You only get there through hard work and having an identity and keep going to that identity and we’ve still got work to do with that but the belief and confidence is there now.”

As they did at the home of English football, Luton also conceded first against the Cobblers in midweek, Will Hoskins netting on the half hour, but there was no dropping of shoulders by the hosts, Liam Walsh levelling before the break and then Kal Naismith producing a quite wonderful free kick to win it with five minutes remaining.

On Town’s ability to now recover in a game as well, Wilshere continued: “That’s the mentality because when you go behind in a game, the natural thing is to think, ‘oh, we really need to chase this, we really need a goal.’ Of course there is in some moments later in the game, you probably change a few things and that’s on me to recognise that and do that, but if it’s early in the game we have to keep going the same way.

"As just because the opposition score it doesn’t mean we have to forget about everything and start panicking, but probably try and do even more the right things. We’ve learned that sometimes the hard way this season, and we can still improve it, definitely still improve it, but I’m proud of the players."

Quite how they have been able to do that, and whether he has had to be a part manager, part psychologist to get them there, Wilshere said: “I think you’re everything in this job. I think about the best coaches I had, they were the ones who gave you confidence, gave you belief, but it’s not just me, it’s everyone, I genuinely believe that.

"It’s the culture, it’s the environment, it’s the staff around, the demands we put on the players, how we push them, and everything matters when it comes to that. It’s not just the manager and the players who make the club successful, we still have work to do in improving the players technically, but also their mentality as well as we’re not satisfied with where we are.

"We accept where we are and we’re committed to that and I think that’s one of the big reasons where you see the mentality shift as well, but we’re hungry to get out of this division and go to the next level. The only way you do that is by changing the mentality, by improving things, but when you get to the next level, to say there, you have to go again. That’s the job of the whole football club and we’ve really improved that I feel."

Despite now getting to a good place once more, Luton heading to Mansfield tomorrow knowing victory would put them in the top six if Stevenage lose at home to Lincoln, he isn’t getting carried away, adding: “It’s not time to reflect, we want to keep working the same way, keep getting the same results and the only way we do that is to keep going the same way. It helps that we’ve done it all season, we’ve tried to remain consistent and the more consistent the players see I am, the more consistent they are with their behaviours. It takes time and we’re getting better, but of course winning games really helps it.”