Town chief will look at the impact of his subs as changes fail to work again

Luton boss Jack Wilshere conceded he and his coaching staff will have to look at the impact being made by his substitutions following Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Peterborough United.

The Hatters, who led 1-0 at half time thanks to Jake Richards’ cool finish, then started the second period with a real pep in their step, Jordan Clark going close twice before he made it 2-0 from Emilio Lawrence's left-wing cross just five minutes in. Nahki Wells was then denied on two occasions, while Davy van den Berg shot over when he simply had to score as it looked like the hosts were going to go on and give their goal difference a significant boost, such was the quality of their approach play and high press.

With it looking like a question of how many Town would get, Wilshere, knowing his side have to go again on Easter Monday against AFC Wimbledon, went to his bench, bringing on Devante Cole for Wells and Gideon Kodua for Lawrence, who was really starting to enjoy some joy on his flank, and went on to be named man of the match by the sponsors afterwards.

As has so often been the case, usually when Kasey Palmer is taken off, the move didn’t work at all, Cole struggling to occupy the United defence in the way that Wells was, while Kodua clearly struggled when being played out of position once more as a wingback. It led to Posh, who looked a beaten team, instantly coming back into the contest, as with Luton’s dominance evaporating, then just 10 minutes later, Jimmy-Jay Morgan headed home a fine cross as the hosts’ yet again went from a position of complete control to having to cling on in the closing stages.

Asked about the lack of impact his alterations had, Wilshere said: “We spoke about that as coaches recently, about the subs we make, the time we make them, the type of subs you make, because sometimes you are just best off, even if you feel momentum going a little bit, that the players on the pitch just to go through it and suffer.

"We felt like it was a good time to make changes and I thought Emilio after being away (with Scotland U21s) and travelling back on Wednesday looked a bit tired towards the end of his performance. So we brought on Gids and then Nahki had to come off because of his recent training. We have to find a way and then the subs have to find a way that they’re straight into the game and they’re up to speed, which we’ll look at.”

The boss did get it right with his next two changes, as with seven minutes remaining, George Saville and Kasey Palmer were introduced for van den Berg and Clark as the pair gave Luton a sense of greater calmness on the ball and more authority in midfield, Palmer dancing his way through to see a clear penalty turned down by under-fire referee Isaac Searle.

It meant that thankfully there were precious few alarms in the six minutes of stoppage time that were added, as Wilshere continued: “I think those two when they came on they did really well. It definitely gives me, but it felt like it gave the whole place a kind of sense of, ‘okay, this is what we need right now.’

"Those two players have been there, they’ve got experience, know-how. Savs in the middle of the pitch, he can pick the right moments to press, pick the right moments to play, or play a little bit longer and Kasey at the other end of the pitch has got the quality to hold the ball up, to dribble, to create a chance which he did, so happy with those two subs.”

It wasn’t just the two new arrivals who did their bit in the closing stages, but captain Kal Naismith also showed his intelligence to take a booking for the team and bring down livewire substitute Bolu Shofowoke as he burst forward, as in general, Luton managed the final moments of the game in a professional manner to prevent any clear-cut chance on Josh Keeley’s goal.

Wilshere added: “It was really important because again I thought we won the ball back in dangerous areas and this time we used the ball better and created chances. Then the next part is, yes we scored the second one, but we want to score the third, we want to score the fourth to really see it out. I’ve said that to the players, I feel like it’s coming, a game where we can win two or three, or four even because we create chances.

"We still, which the players did really well today, have to earn it, and win the ball out of possession and work really hard, and run and win your duels, which in this run of five (games) where we’ve picked up a bit of momentum, that’s the reason in my opinion why we were out-working opposition. We’ve got players in the team that can also outsmart the opposition, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t work and we’re doing that really well at the moment.”