Luton chief explains midfielder's absence against Blackpool

Hatters boss Jack Wilshere confirmed that midfielder Liam Walsh was forced to miss yesterday’s 1-0 victory over Blackpool due to a bout of illness.

The 28-year-old was a surprising absentee from the teamsheet when it dropped before the contest, having started the last 14 league games under Wilshere, with four assists in that time, completing the full 90 minutes on all but three occasions. However, he wasn’t in the starting line-up that went up against the Tangerines, and asked why that was, speaking afterwards, Wilshere said: “Liam’s been ill and I’m conscious of that because of what happened with Jake (Richards). Jake was ill for a while and then we carried on playing him because he’s important and we wanted to keep on developing him and then we lost him for a while. So he’s been ill and we didn't want to take any more risks with him.”

With Walsh missing out entirely and youngster Richards also dropped to the bench following the 1-0 reverse at Huddersfield Town on Tuesday night, it meant Shayden Morris, who looked Town’s most likely creator when he came on at the Accu Stadium, got his chance from the first whistle, along with the recalled Nahki Wells.

Discussing Morris’s efforts, Wilshere added: “Shayden’s been getting closer and closer, he’s been knocking on my door, saying that he wants his opportunity. I told him he had to earn it, and I think he has earned it. Also you can see the intent from the start from us that we wanted to attack them down the sides, we had a right footed right winger with pace, a left footed left winger with pace.

“We wanted to get down the sides, cross the ball in the box and we did that. I thought in the first half we didn't do it enough, we couldn't connect it enough because of JJ (Joe Johnson) being inside, but second half we definitely got that. Gids (Gideon Kodua) when he went out (to the left) gave us something different as well.

"I think that’s quite interesting when a full back’s played against a Cohen Bramall who he knows is going to be quite vertical, quite straight lined with runs and pace and then all of a sudden you mix it up with Gids and he’s more of a jinker, he gave us something there. I’m happy for Shayden because he doesn’t want to be just an impact player, although he is so impactful when he comes off the bench, but he deserves his chance and I thought he did well.”