New Hatters chief Wilshere shown how big a job he has on his hands during Stags loss

New Luton manager Jack Wilshere conceded he learned just how big a task he has to try and turn things around at Kenilworth Road after witnessing his side suffer yet another demoralising 2-0 defeat at home to Mansfield in his first game in charge this afternoon.

The hosts had a great chance to take the lead on 33 minutes, Nahki Wells’ effort saved by Liam Roberts, before the Stags went ahead seven minutes later, Rhys Oates curling brilliantly beyond Josh Keeley. Mansfield had their second just before the hour mark too, Mads Andersen penalised for handball and Tyler Roberts slotting home, which saw Town, who offered barely anything in attack from then on, booed off by their home supporters once more as they slipped to 14th in the table, now eight points adrift of the play-offs.

With Wilshere having replaced previous manager Matt Bloomfield on Monday, he saw first hand just how low confidence is amongst his players, as asked if he realised just how big a job he as on his hands now, he said: “Yes, I think I definitely learned some things from today. Throughout the whole process when I was watching, I saw some things and when you’re actually there and you feel it, you understand a little bit more, so I think we knew that coming in here.

"I think when you come from the Premier League straight to League One in two seasons, there obviously is something, but we knew that, we have to find out what it is. I think we know what it is and we have to find ways of being able to give the players more belief, give them more confidence. I said to the players before that I want them to really, really feel the belief I have in them and that doesn’t change.

"I thought today was a game of spells where we probably didn’t start the game the way we wanted to, but then we calmed down, we settled and when I think about that, we didn’t start well and it was a tough moment, but we managed it well, so there’s a positive for me and we have to find ways of doing that throughout. I learned a lot about this league as well, so a day where obviously we wanted to win and do better, but we can take some positives as well."

Having only had a few days to try and get his ideas across, then Wilshere wasn’t too surprised to see things not quite click immediately, adding: “That can happen, just because there’s been a change, doesn't straight away mean you're going to see everything we want to see and all of a sudden we’re going to have this playing style that’s amazing.

"One thing I would say and I said this to the players when a new manager comes in and they're trying to introduce a new style you have to try and see the intention and praise the intention because that’s the way we want to play. So not a good start, but we suffered, we came through that moment, we then found a little bit of confidence in the game, confidence went, we conceded a goal and we have to try and be more consistent and better technically to keep confidence.”