Morris starts as Luton make four changes against Mansfield

Luton winger Shayden Morris has been handed his first start for almost two months as one of four changes made by boss Jack Wilshere for this afternoon’s trip to Mansfield Town.

The summer signing impressed when introduced at half time during Wednesday night’s 2-1 victory over Northampton Town, and comes into the side along with Davy van den Berg, Ali Al-Hamadi and Hakeem Odoffin, as Nahki Wells, Joe Johnson and Jake Richards have dropped to the bench, top scorer Jordan Clark missing out with a calf strain.

With victory for Luton potentially seeing the Hatters climb into the top six, should Stevenage lose at home to Lincoln City, then on the chance of putting their future in their own hands for the first time in an age, Wilshere said: “The important thing is we try and control what we can control and the uncontrollables is the Stevenage game and the other games around us.

“We can’t have any say in how those results go, but what we can do is make sure we give ourselves every chance to be successful, try and get maximum points out of the game which we know will put ourselves in a better position going into Tuesday. Our mentality is focus on us, try and win this game and try and put us in a good position.”

Hosts Mansfield are currently in mid-table and virtually safe from relegation, as asked if it was dangerous going up against a side with little to play for, Wilshere continued: “I think you saw that a little bit with Northampton, I think you saw in the first half. I know Northampton did have something to play for, but it would have been very difficult for them to get out of that situation, but you saw a really good Northampton team that wanted to play, were a little bit freer, and it can happen at this stage of the season.

"Each player will have a different personal situation, some will be fighting for their place next year, some will be fighting for a contract, some will be fighting for a contract elsewhere, so that frees players up. They’ve got a manager (Nigel Clough) who has so much experience and knowledge of the game to win games of football and we expect a difficult game. It wasn’t so long ago we weren’t good enough away from home, we’ve got some fresh memories in our mind about what we don’t need to do away from home and what we do need to do. It will be no different and when we get the ball we need to use it well."

With Wilshere’s first game in charge coming against the Stags back in October, a 2-0 defeat after Wells missed a first half penalty, then asked what he had learned from then, Wilshere added: “I still say to Kev Foley that he took that game, but I’ve learned so much about the club, learned so much about the league, about what you need to be successful in this league. It was a tough game, my first game here, there was no getting away from that, although I felt we were good, they were good as well, and they probably deserved their win, and they’ve grown since then.

"The team’s developed so much since that game and I watched it back the other day, we were unlucky in that game. We created some chances early in the game, we missed a penalty and then gave the ball away, they scored and that was at the point where I didn’t feel we were great in dealing with adversity.

"You look now in terms of that, forget about how the team’s developed, but in terms of our mentality and our ability to deal with bad moments in a game, we’re a different team. Credit to the players as it’s been a lot of hard work. It’s easy for a coach to say this is the way, but the players have to deliver it, the players have to live it and ultimately they have.”

Stags: Liam Roberts, Elliott Hewitt, Deji Oshilaja, Ryan Sweeney (C), Lucas Akins, Louis Reed, Jon Russell, Stephen McLaughlin, Regan Hendry, Tyler Roberts, Will Evans. Subs: Kyle Knoyle, Frazer Blake-Tracy, Nathan Moriah-Welsh, Joe Gardner, Oliver Irow, Rhys Oates, Dom Dwyer.

Hatters: Josh Keeley, Nigel Lonwijk, Hakeem Odoffin, Mads Andersen, Kal Naismith (C), Emilio Lawrence, Liam Walsh, Davy van den Berg, Kasey Palmer, Shayden Morris, Ali Al-Hamadi. Subs: James Shea, George Saville, Nahki Wells, Devante Cole, Jake Richards, Gideon Kodua. Joe Johnson.