Recalled Town defender earns praise for dealing with errors at Posh

Luton boss Jack Wilshere felt recalled full back Joe Johnson displayed the right kind of mentality to deal with the difficulties he suffered during the Hatters’ 2-0 victory at Peterborough United on Saturday.

The 20-year-old hadn’t started a League One game since being deployed in an unfamiliar wingback role at Stevenage in early September, restricted to just 45 minutes during the 4-1 triumph at Wycombe Wanderers, although did get a full 90 when Town beat Ipswich Town U21s in the Jersey Mike’s Trophy.

However, with club captain Kal Naismith missing the weekend trip to the Weston Homes Stadium due to a bout of illness that is sweeping through the camp at Kenilworth Road, the academy graduate was back in for just his second start of the campaign when Luton headed to the Weston Homes Stadium in search of a fourth straight victory.

He found Posh attacker Bolu Shofowoke a tough opponent throughout the contest, as in the second half, and with the visitors 2-0 to the good, almost played a part in the hosts pulling one back, a miscommunication with keeper James Shea leading to Ethan Williams going close, Mads Andersen there to clear his shot away from near the goal-line.

Johnson tightened up from then on, making 10 defensive contributions as he helped the Hatters earn a first league clean sheet on the road this season and only a second overall, going close to adding a third goal late on when his header was cleared off the line, also firing in a shot that was deflected behind via a defender’s hand, with only a corner awarded.

Asked about the young defender’s display afterwards, Wilshere said: “You know what, that’s what I like the most about JJ’s performance, there were a couple of mistakes, but you can’t dwell on it. You’re playing against a good player who can beat you, or he can creep up on you when you’re on the ball. Maybe he can be more decisive at times with the ball, but forgetting about it, accepting it’s a game of football where mistakes are going to happen and I thought he got stronger as the game went on, so credit to him for that.”

Having been on the bench in recent matches as the Hatters regained their form, with four wins from five going into the contest, will have helped Johnson see just what is needed when getting his opportunity, according to Wilshere, who added: “The players on the pitch, the ones that have been playing recently, they set the culture of everything. I said it after the last game, the players watching from the side are thinking, to get into this team, that’s what I’m going to have to do.

"Credit to everyone who got on the pitch today (Saturday) and in the last few games. The subs have made a difference and we need to keep it going like that. We need competition for places, we’ve got players coming back and when the players get on the pitch, they have to recognise it’s a moment to show and keep your shirt. It’s consistency and you can see, it probably wasn’t our most fluid game at times.

"We did okay, but with consistency of doing the things you can control, your reaction to a giveaway, your acceptance that it’s not always going to go our way, how good we were in duels, how good we are in aerial duels, we want to land on second balls. We’ve done that really well in the last four or five games, and we keep highlighting to the players as it’s a really obvious message for me that if we keep doing the things, it gives you the basis of a performance and we’ve got quality that can hurt teams.”