Town chief insists loyal servant Shea fully deserved his moment on the big stage

Luton goalkeeper James Shea thoroughly deserved his chance to finally take to the pitch at Wembley Stadium in the eyes of manager Jack Wilshere as he played a pivotal role in the Hatters’ Vertu Trophy final win over Stockport County on Sunday.

Going into the game, the selection regarding just who would take their position between the posts was one of the main talking points, Wilshere having to decide between picking Town’s 34-year-old longest servant, who had played every minute of the competition so far, or summer signing from Tottenham Hotspur, Josh Keeley.

It always seemed likely Shea would play, the former Arsenal youngster, who had been on the bench twice at the home of English football before, once for Luton during their Championship play-off success in 2023, also for AFC Wimbledon back in 2016, present for the pre-match media day on Wednesday, where he declared he was absolutely desperate to get the nod.

Start he did too, as he ran out on the hallowed turf to a wonderful ovation from the 30,000 Luton supporters, to make his 11th appearance of the season and 121st in total since arriving in July 2017. He quickly settled any nerves that might have been swirling around when commandingly claiming a high, hanging cross into the box, although his hopes of a clean sheet were ended fairly quickly, Adamah Sidibeh outpacing Mads Andersen to a ball over the top, before beating the keeper and opening the scoring on 11 minutes.

Shea’s heart might have been in his mouth when he came racing out of his area to try and prevent another attack, only to clatter the forward, but thankfully the offside flag was raised and he escaped any punishment that might have been coming his way from referee Martin Coy. Later on in the first half and with Town now 2-1 ahead thanks to goals from Emilio Lawrence and Nahki Wells, the keeper handled Oliver Norwood’s shot from range with ease as that was all County had to offer in the opening 45 minutes.

It was different in the second period, Stockport coming on far stronger as they looked for a way back into the contest, although Shea was well protected by his defence for the majority of the fixture. That was until just eight minutes remained on the clock and dangerman Norwood stepped up to deliver a free kick into the box.

It was met by Josh Stokes, who powerfully headed goalwards, appearing destined to make amends for his earlier error in the build-up to Luton’s equaliser and level the scores, only for Shea to react brilliantly, sticking out a right arm to tip the ball on to the crossbar, Isaac Olaofe fortunately unable to connect with the rebound and Hakeem Odoffin hacking the loose ball away.

The crucial stop meant that Wells’ second goal in the first 60 seconds of stoppage time gave Town some real breathing space, as discussing choosing his one-time Arsenal FA Youth Cup winning team-mate ahead of Keeley, Wilshere said: “I stick by it, he was always going to play. I didn’t tell you guys as I didn’t want to give it away, but he was always going to play and he was clear with that, Josh was clear with that. At this level I’ll say it again, I feel like you have two number ones. You need someone who pushes the guy that you pick every single day and if he slips up then he’s ready to step in.

"Josh has had an outstanding season and Sheasy’s probably been a little bit unfortunate at times but there have been games where Josh has been touch and go and we’ve gone with Sheasy because we trust him so much. Also, he deserves it for his time at the club. He probably hasn’t played the games that he wanted, but I knew how much this meant for him. It was a big stage for him, I know his family of course and they should be really proud of him as he gives everything every day and he deserves that.”

Shea also had a hand to play in the third goal as well, as it was his quick thinking that saw the stopper bowl the ball out to team-mate Jordan Clark in acres of space. The midfielder quickly advanced upfield and found substitute Shayden Morris who got past his man and picked out Wells in the area, whose first shot was block, the rebound gleefully tucked away to ensure it was Luton who would be lifting the trophy.

On the part his keeper had, and that of Morris too, Wilshere added: “He’s also good with his feet and he understands the game. He’s a good footballer, he loves football, he watches the game, he studies the game, and credit to Shayden as well as Shayden has been out of the team recently. It’s been tough for him because the teams been doing so well and Jake’s (Richards) been playing well on the right, scoring goals, making goals, and we haven’t used Shayden as much over the last few games.

"We’re still working with him, he’s still training really well. When he came on the pitch, I thought he made an impact, set up the goal, defensively I thought he was good, Nigel (Lonwijk) behind him too. We wanted to change that right side because I felt like they were getting a little bit of joy on the pitch, but the players that came on the pitch, again, like Monday (against AFC Wimbledon), helped us see it through.”