Town academy graduate shows Wilshere he can step up for the Hatters

​Town youngster Joe Johnson was happy to have taken his chance over the Christmas period to show manager Jack Wilshere he has exactly what it takes to be a first teamer for the Hatters.

The 19-year-old was handed an opportunity in the absence of club captain Kal Naismith who suffered a calf injury in the 3-2 defeat to Reading just before the festivities began. Having started the 4-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers, Johnson was then challenged by Wilshere to show he could go again during such a busy schedule, and he did just that by getting through two more 90 minutes, a 3-0 victory over Leyton Orient and then the 1-0 New Year’s Day defeat at Exeter City.

Johnson didn’t let anyone down in either game too and proved to Wilshere that he was far more than just a handy replacement for Naismith, as he now looks capable of seriously challenging the skipper when he returns, meaning the manager might not have to go into the January transfer market to bolster his options on the left hand side of Luton’s defence now either.

On his run in the side, the academy graduate said: “I’m happy and hopefully I can keep it up and hopefully keep getting a few games. Kal’s going to be back soon and he’ll be ready to help out the team as well, so it’s whoever the manager decides to pick. He’ll be ready and I’ll be supporting whoever it is.

"Myself and everyone around trusts every single player in that squad. We’re all involved so we know what to do, our roles and responsibilities, everyone’s ready. It’s a very tight-knit group, everyone’s in good spirits. It’s been good. I’m still developing and every step is a good step forward. Hopefully I can just keep going, build on these three and then hopefully many more to come.”

Having recovered from a serious hamstring injury in the summer, Johnson had to bide his time before getting the nod, with two cup appearances, as Wilshere admitted recently the youngster had come to him to discuss his opportunities of first team football with the Hatters. Asked what it was like to get a chance to talk things through with his manager, and how it had been getting back to full fitness in the first few months of the campaign, Johnson continued: “It was my first injury and it’s a mental challenge.

"It’s your whole life football and when it gets taken away from you for a long while then it’s tough, but I’ve come out the other end stronger and I’m ready to go again. Jack’s amazing, he makes sure he keeps everyone in the loop, in the meetings, out on the training pitch. You can go and watch, so we’re all buying into the philosophy. He understands it having been a player himself, so speaking to him on a personal level it’s been good to get that.”

With Johnson’s confidence growing in every outing, he looked every inch the part, particularly at Exeter, where despite the result, he gave a starring display on the day, eager to receive possession and advance up the pitch whenever possible. Although he acknowledged his own efforts, the defender wasn’t satisfied with just taking individual plaudits, saying: “I’ve always backed myself technically, I feel like I’ve got good management of the ball, so when I can show that and help the team, I do what I can. It’s all well and good me playing well though, I’m happy, but not if we don’t get the win, as the main thing is the team performances.”

He clearly did enough to impress Wilshere too, who asked if he thought the defender was Luton’s top performer in Devon, said: “I agree, I said it in there after. JJ was one of our best players again and is showing that he can step up, showing he can be the guy who wants to take the ball and I thought he had some real nice moments. He’s still developing, a really young player who needs to learn the game more, but the last three games would have definitely helped him understand how to go again, sometimes probably not feeling the best, feeling a little bit tired, but having to go again and he did well.”

The main criticism of the Hatters during Johnson’s third game out of three was their inability to produce anything meaningful in the attacking third, as despite dominating possession, with over 60 percent of the ball, they failed to test home keeper Joe Whitworth, while at the other end, James Shea was called into action on three occasions, as the hosts also scored and hit the post as well.

However, with Luton hosting Stevenage this weekend, the Town youngster wasn’t getting dispirited by their lack of attacking threat, which saw them drop to four points away from the play-off zone, adding: “It’s always hard against a deep back five, they soak up pressure, they sit tight, there’s not that many gaps and spaces in behind, but it’s something we’re working hard on on the training ground, something we’ll continue to work hard on.

"I believe it will come as we’ve shown it can work and it will work in the following games. We are feeling it, we feel the frustration, but at the same time I feel like the last two games before this, we've been excellent. There were times (against Exeter) we picked up really good patterns, some good rotations were working well, so it’s something that we have to keep going. We hold ourselves to a really, really high standard, but there’s no time to be down, there’s no time to be sulking. We’ll dust ourselves off, go again and we will, we will.”