Town boss hails coaching staff's response after Stags thrashing left him 'low'

Hatters boss Jack Wilshere praised his coaching staff for their efforts in being able to lift not just the players, but also him as well, following Sunday’s woeful 5-2 defeat at Mansfield Town.

The manner of the hammering at the One Call Stadium, Luton 3-0 down at the interval, and shipping five inside an hour, was a severe shock to the system for the Town manager, especially having witnessed a courageous performance when only going down to a 2-0 reverse at a Premier League Chelsea side that contained Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer just a few days earlier.

Going again on Wednesday night, playing a fourth game in 12 days, Town were able to get through to half time unscathed against an impressive visiting Stockport County side, before strikes from Nahki Wells and Callum Marshall ensured they bounced back with an incredibly welcome three points in the second period.

Speaking afterwards, Wilshere revealed just what a role his backroom team had played in the victory, saying: “After the game on Sunday, we looked at the goals. I don’t always think that’s the best thing to do, but I think actually it was a good thing to do as the players have got emotions as well and they spoke about it. The coach drive home was quiet, it was tough, it was a rough night Sunday. Me, the staff, we stayed there to really, really late, I don’t even think some of them went home, looking at it and how we approach the next few days as we needed a response.

"We had to show some things that we can’t accept and the players won’t accept. We also knew that to get a response out of them, we had to give them some energy and some love and credit to the staff for that as I was low Monday, I was low. Powelly (Chris Powell), Tim (Corcoran), Bridgo (David Bridges), Foles (Kevin Foley) and Pilks (Kevin Pilkington), they were around the players and trying to lift them and they got the response they wanted.”

To their credit, Luton were able to put things right at the first attempt, as after a first half that won’t live long in the memory, they produced a far better second half outing, Wells putting them ahead with his fifth goal of the season from close range and then Marshall coming off the bench to curl home an absolute beauty with 15 minutes left.

It led to a far happier dressing room afterwards, although Wilshere urged his players to remember just what they had to do to achieve such a feeling, as he continued: “After a result like we had at the weekend and everyone’s a little bit shocked, the first thing you want to do and that’s why I love football, especially this schedule in League One is there’s another game in two days, but from a players’ perspective, they want to get on the pitch.

"They want to find their rhythm, they want to get comfortable and I thought we threatened to at times in the first half, where we had a few nice periods and played through them. A couple of times we pressed them high, forced them to play long and then it opened up the game, but towards the end, we dropped off a bit and they got the space they wanted, created a little bit more.

"We spoke about that at half time and the players showed so much energy and desire in the second half to do that as it’s not always easy. They can play through you and then you have to run back, but we did it. The lads are happy, but the message has to be it’s really, really clear, if you don’t do certain things in this league, you get Sunday, if you do do certain things, which we can do, which was the foundation of what we built last season, we built an identity and a style, but that doesn’t matter if you don’t have desire, fight, energy, and also a togetherness.

"After a game like that, it’s easy for players to start saying things, or pointing fingers at each other, but I never felt that. There were some hard conversations between players, between staff. We had a really good meeting, but I never felt like they were pointing fingers or anything, so the unity tonight was really important.”

Town have been here before under Wilshere too, suffering a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Barnsley back in November of last year, as they then hit back to beat Huddersfield 2-1 on home soil thanks to goals from Jake Richards and Jerry Yates. It also happened in Rob Edwards’ reign too, battered 5-1 at Middlesbrough in November 2024, then recording a 1-0 success over Hull City in their next contest, Mark McGuinness with the only goal that day.

Asked about the character needed to bounce back immediately and whether it was almost better the defeat happened at this stage of the season, Wilshere added: “That was really important and I remember the last time, Huddersfield, and it actually felt a little bit similar to that tonight, where we’re playing against a good team in the division. A team that, okay, Stockport, probably like to dominate the ball more than Huddersfield did last year, but a good team in this division.

"They’ve got pedigree and got good players, you need a response and the response was there for everyone to see. I want the players really to see it and feel it as there’s a big difference from the energy, commitment, relentlessness and everything we speak about, and what we plan for this season.

"It was important that we bounced straight back. We built an identity, but in that identity was some non-negotiables and some spirit of how we want to act and how we want to behave, and we didn’t see that, which was a little bit of a shock, but the most important thing was that we stopped it there and it was done. We learned about it, we looked at it and we moved on from it.

“Yes, we don’t want it to happen, but I think it’s really clear and that is a good lesson for the players. It hurts, I know it hurt the fans and it hurt me and we definitely didn’t want it to happen, but the message is really clear, it’s there for the players to see. Sometimes that is quite powerful and let’s see how they use it.”