Town chief admits Port Vale clash wasn't the 'right game' for Brown
Forward finally played in the number nine role during Valiants draw
Hatters boss Jack Wilshere admitted it probably wasn’t the right game to put attacker Jacob Brown through the middle during Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Port Vale at Kenilworth Road.
The Luton chief has spoken about how the number nine role is the best position for the fit-again Scotland international, although he had been deployed in a wide right position when coming off the bench since returning from a long-term injury, an area he was utilised once more against Leyton Orient last week, with summer signing Jerry Yates playing in the central striking berth.
However, on Saturday, Brown was given the opportunity in the number nine role himself, although it didn’t quite work out as he wanted, with 21 touches during his hour on the pitch, only winning one aerial duel from 18, plus one from four ground duels, as he was marked out of the contest by an imposing Valiants defence, who kept him quiet fairly easily.
In the end, the ex-Stoke City striker had just one touch in the opposition area, although did create a chance when teeing up Kal Naismith for a wayward attempt during the second period, Brown eventually taken off for Nahki Wells with 62 minutes gone, who it must be said, didn’t get on much better. Discussing his efforts on the day, Wilshere said: “I felt we played long balls from too deep. They were, on the data, the best team at defending direct play and I didn’t feel we used him as best we could.
"He tried and he ran around for us, and I think one or two times we played it into him, he held it up and we played off him, but probably against a team in a low block he’s a different type of striker. You want a team to play a high line and you want centre backs to jump out so he can attack the space behind. We do try and create situations where you’re forcing their back-line to jump out, but you also can’t control that. He’s someone that I really like as a nine and he’s a different nine to what we’ve got, but it probably wasn’t the right game.”
Asked himself about which role he prefers to play, Brown, who signed when Town were in the Premier League, making 58 appearances for the Hatters since, although 31 have been from the bench, scoring seven goals, continued: “It’s one of them, I’ve always preferred playing upfront, central, down the middle, but again I’ve always wanted to play. So wherever I’m playing I’ll give it my all and do the best I can.”
Wilshere was also left surprised with just how good Port Vale were on the day, as the visitors came into the contest sitting bottom of the table, a position the manager didn’t think they should be in having now seen them close up. He added: “After the game you have a feeling, we didn’t play well, a lot of the time it’s not as good as you think it is and it’s also not as bad as you felt in that moment, as there were some good things in the game.
"I actually thought Port Vale were better than I expected, not better individually, but tried different things as a team and it’s strange for me that they are bottom of the league. Going into the game the feeling around is that you want to win of course and I thought we had more than enough to win that game, but there is also a little bit of credit to them as they made it difficult for us. They had some good moments, some good players and we have to be ready for that in every game in this league.”