Town chief has already made his mind up who will play in goal at Wembley

Luton manager Jack Wilshere has already made his mind up over whether he will pick Josh Keeley or James Shea in goal for the Hatters against Stockport County for the Vertu Trophy final against Stockport County at Wembley on Sunday, although will keep his selection quiet for now.

The Town chief certainly appears to have a conundrum, as loyal servant Shea, 35, has played every single minute of the competition to date this season, starting all seven matches the Hatters have played to reach this point, keeping one clean sheet, that in the 4-0 victory over Exeter City back in early December.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Shea, who is the longest serving member of the Luton squad admitted how is ‘desperate’ to get the nod and make it third time lucky by getting his opportunity to run out at the home of English football, having been on the bench for Town during their Championship play-off final win over Coventry City in May 2023 and AFC Wimbledon’s 2-0 success against Plymouth Argyle in the League Two play-off final in 2016.

Although sentiment would see Shea get his 121st appearance ahead of Keeley, the summer signing from Tottenham Hotspur has begun all but one of Luton’s 41 league games this term, with 12 shut-outs. He is hitting some real form of late too, saving a penalty in the 2-1 victory over Peterborough on Good Friday and then not being breached during the 3-0 success over AFC Wimbledon on Easter Monday.

Wilshere had stated before recent matches in the tournament who will get the nod, but with silverware now on the line, this time he wasn’t giving his opponents a heads up, saying: “I have made my mind up and I’ll keep it a secret. We’ve had situations this season where Josh has been touch and go, then you have a number two and it’s harsh to call him a number two as I see them both as number ones competing for the same spot.

"We have someone with a lot of experience who hasn’t played a lot of games this season, we have a really young goalkeeper who’s done really well in a lot of games and has developed so much and learned so much from the things he’s been through this season. so whoever we decide to go with I know they’ll both support each other.

"They’ve got a really good relationship which I’ve learned is really important when you’ve got two goalkeepers fighting for one spot. It’s different to the Premier League or even Championship where there’s three or four goalkeepers and you probably know your role a little bit clearer. It’s different at this level when you’ve got two goalkeepers who are competing every day and the way they support each other is outstanding, so whoever we pick will support each other in the right way.”

The decision to pick who is considered as the number two goalkeeper for a cup final was recently in the spotlight when Mikel Arteta, manager of Wilshere’s former club Arsenal, opted to go with Kepa Arrizabalaga over David Raya for the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City last month, the Brazilian at fault for the first goal of the 2-0 defeat, fumbling a cross into the path of Nico O’Reilly to score.

Asked about that situation, Wilshere didn’t feel it was quite the same to his dilemma at Kenilworth Road, adding: “I think it’s different because at that level, you probably do have a clear number one, which they do. Whoever we pick is more than ready to step up, and it’s the same for outfield players as well. I’ve got some decisions to make around that, yes we’ve been on a good run, but each game gives different challenges. We played them recently, we played in a certain way and we didn’t win the game.

"We identified things in that game that can help us moving forward to try and win a game like that and that might be with different personnel, so there’s a lot of decisions to make and the goalkeeping situation for me is clear. They’re both really, really good goalkeepers, at slightly different points in their career, but both will bring different qualities to the team and we’ll pick the right one.”