Town chief appreciates Luton's travelling support at Terriers

Hatters boss Jack Wilshere hugely appreciated the reception Town received from the over 500 travelling supporters who made their way up to Huddersfield Town on Tuesday night.

On the back of an exhausting schedule for Luton that had seen them play six times in 18 days, then 507 fans still put their hands in their pockets to make the lengthy trip to the Accu Stadium in midweek. Wilshere’s previous memory of a venue that Town had a record of only three wins from their previous 10 visits, hadn’t been a good one, going down 1-0 against 10 men last term when Ryan Ledson scored from the half-way line, that coming in a lengthy sequence where the Hatters simply couldn’t buy a win outside of Bedfordshire.

However, this time those who had headed up the motorway end were applauding their side off for what was a hugely creditable 1-1 draw where Luton showcased their own promotion credentials, Jordan Clark having put the visitors in front against the league leaders, ex-Town striker Joe Taylor then thumping the Terriers level. It saw Town pick up a battling point that took them up to third in the table for 24 hours, Oxford United leapfrogging them by beating Reading 2-0 last night.

Asked about those in the away end, Wilshere said: “I really appreciate that and I remember sitting here last year after a really bad day, we lost to 10 men, it was tough. The fans travelled up, I think it was a Tuesday night as well, as we love the fans and it is our responsibility to give them a performance that at least is fighting and trying for everything. Of course in the moments that we can show a little bit more quality we want to, but I know that the fans and especially Luton fans, we have to be able to fight and represent this badge and the players are definitely doing that.

"The players, the staff and everyone, they’ve given so much, so much, over this last block. Sundays in, away from their families and we are, I know people say it, but it is like your family away from your family. I enjoy spending time with the players, I enjoy spending time with the staff. I thank them for their efforts over the last three or four weeks. We want to keep developing that being tough to play against."

Although Luton saw their four-match winning run ended, as did the hosts, almost all who made the trip up, and those viewing from elsewhere, would have been perfectly happy with the outcome, especially as it made it 16 points from a possible 21 in the congested run of games since the international break. That wasn’t quite the case for Wilshere and his players, as the boss continued: “After the game I think there’s a little bit of disappointment in the dressing room that we conceded in the way we did.

"It’s been tough, we have conceded a lot of goals this season, but when you look at it, in a lot of the moments the defending has been outstanding. We got a clean sheet the other day (at Peterborough) that meant a lot to the players, meant a lot to everyone. We wanted it again, we know that is the consequence of doing the things that we can control, our duels, how aggressive we are, in terms of our attitudes to land on second balls and our reactions when we lose the ball.”

Despite his initial thoughts, Wilshere did accept that it was a game his side could very well have ended up losing last term, or earlier in the campaign, when they conceded five at Mansfield and also went down to defeat at Stevenage as well, as he continued: “Yes, I think so, and as well, probably when you think about it, when you break those down, there were periods, or times when we conceded at the time we did then the second half would just be the opposition on the front foot and we’d just be defending.

"That’s probably why we ended up losing games like that, so that will be something we have to show the players as they scored and they had a little bit of momentum in the game, but we took that away from them and started to come back into the game. Then you want to be able to take the game away from them, create better chances and it became a little bit open, but even then we defended really well.”

The only real frustration for Wilshere was that once his side did manoeuvre the ball into an attacking area, they gave it away too cheaply for his liking, which prevented them going on to try and score a second, Nahki Wells putting a header over and Clark also toepoking off target, their best two opportunities after the break.

The boss added: “There was a lack of quality as we lost the ball too many times under not much pressure, but we have to accept that and understand that’s going to happen. We’re not going to be able to keep the ball all the time or attack in the way we want to and just our body language to accept that has been outstanding. We’ve done that consistently well and the more you do that, the better you get at it. The more you highlight it and show the players, they start to see it and I’m really proud of it.

“The game required something different, and you have to be careful as Huddersfield are really good at giving you this false sense of control and then forcing you into areas and then jumping and being aggressive. A little bit in the first half we did that when we went to the full back, they started to lock us on that side, then we played a straight pass down the line and were aggressive.

"We highlighted that at half time, that we needed to be a little bit more direct as we’re good at that and landing on second balls, but if they give you spaces and we can find Walshy (Liam Walsh) who can turn the game forward and we can attack in that way, let’s do that. So that’s a decision-making thing from the players. They had the freedom on the pitch to do that and in the second half, even when we were tired, we were still making good decisions, then it’s about the quality to find the next pass which we missed a little bit.”