Luton chief states skipper Naismith is working hard to prove doubters wrong

Hatters defender Kal Naismith is working hard to prove his doubters wrong as manager Jack Wilshere praised the Town captain’s response to being left out of the side for Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw against Doncaster Rovers.

After beginning just two from 11 games between late December and mid-February, Joe Johnson preferred in his place, Naismith was then back in the side for the 1-0 loss at Wigan Athletic last month, starting a run of six consecutive starts. The 34-year-old made a costly mistake in the 2-1 Vertu Trophy semi-final win over Northampton Town though, conceding a free kick after being caught in possession and then completely losing Kyle McAdam, who was able to score with a free header at the back post.

Naismith remained in the team that hosted Reading on Saturday, but after not being able to react in time to prevent Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan from making the most of Izzy Jones’s woeful back header for the opening goal, was then badly at fault for the Royals’ winner, as a heavy touch inside his own area led to Matt Ritchie deflecting the ball to Ehibhatiomhan to slam home his hat-trick, the visitors coming from 2-1 down to win 3-2 in the final 10 minutes.

It saw the former Rangers youngster, who has had a mixed relationship with Luton supporters since coming back for his third spell with the club during the summer, left on the bench for the midweek contest at the Eco-Power Stadium, as questioned as to his reasoning for doing so, Wilshere said: “It was a little bit of a rest, a little bit of trying to help him, because obviously not just him, but the Reading game didn’t end how we wanted it to end.

"Sometimes when it’s like that, to take someone out of the team just to give them a little bit of a breather and step away from it a little bit, while keeping them around, because he’s our captain, he’s our leader, that was the thinking behind that. JJ stepped into that role, so it was a little bit of a tactical thing, a little bit of a move to give him a little bit of a breather.”

Asked just how the experienced defender was with his manager when learning of the decision to take him out of the firing line, Wilshere added: “Kal is excellent at that, I’ve left him out a few times this season, I think back to probably Huddersfield and I’ve got a really good relationship, an open relationship where we talk a lot. We talk about him, we talk about the team, we talk about the squad, we talk about the environment and how we’re trying to improve that and he is key to that.

"He drives standards all the time. I know he was disappointed when we reviewed it and he held his hands up in this room in front of everyone, so he is really important in terms of the leadership. He knows that he can do better at times as well and he’s fully committed to trying to do that, working hard and proving people wrong.”