Town chief pleased with Fanne's response to being dropped against Lincoln

Town boss Jack Wilshere has been happy with the response made by midfielder Lamine Fanne after being publicly criticised for his efforts and dropped against Lincoln City recently.

The 21-year-old had been a mainstay of the side since the former Arsenal and England star took over in October, named in every League One squad and beginning 11 out of 14 matches, scoring once and adding two assists, also on target in the FA Cup win over Forest Green Rovers too. However, he then failed to impress his manager when named in the side who were defeated 2-1 by League Two opposition Swindon Town in the Vertu Trophy earlier this month, which meant he was left out of the match-day 18 when Town took on the Imps recently.

Asked at the time why that was, Wilshere had said: “I’ve told this to him, I wasn’t happy with him from the Swindon game and I didn't think he did enough to earn the right to be in the squad again. When I first came in. He was the guy that was arriving in the box, scoring important goals, I want him to get back to that. I want him to get back to understanding what his strengths are, how he can help the team. He obviously got taken off at half time against Stevenage because he wasn’t giving us that in that game, but he’s someone that gives us something and we want him around.”

Having missed the 2-2 draw, Fanne was then named amongst the substitutes when Luton travelled to Plymouth Argyle last weekend, although didn’t get on, before once again being on the bench at Huddersfield Town in midweek, introduced for the final few minutes with Emilio Lawrence as Town hunted an equaliser they couldn’t find, going down to a 1-0 loss.

Asked just how the youngster has taken on board what Wilshere said to him, the manager added: “He responded excellently and Lamine, I’ve always liked Lamine. Since I came in he was important, he scored the first goal for me to win the first game and then he’s a young player, he needs consistency, he needs to understand what it takes to perform at the weekend.

"It’s every single day you need to work to your maximum and try to get one percent better, even if it’s just that. There’s days where you’ll have bad days of course, but he’s responded really well to that and he earned his place back in the squad. He came on the pitch on Tuesday night to try and help us find that goal. He couldn’t quite do it, but he’s responded in the right way and his attitude has been good.”