Two points dropped for Wilshere as Luton boss thinks Town lacked 'belief'
Hatters are held by Port Vale at Kenilworth Road
Luton boss Jack Wilshere felt it was a case of two points dropped during yesterday’s 2-2 draw against bottom side Port Vale, a fixture he thought his players looked like they were lacking in ‘belief.’
The Hatters had gone into the contest as firm favourites to secure all three points against a team who hadn’t won in the league since September 27, not even finding the net in a third tier game since early October either, some six games ago. It looked like Town were well set for a much-needed three points when Cohen Bramall fired in a magnificent free kick on 27 minutes, but the Valiants, who didn’t show the hallmarks of a side that was low on confidence, or sitting at the foot of the table, came roaring back, Ben Waine heading in Ruari Paton’s free kick just before half time, Devante Cole tapping in to darken the worsening mood around Kenilworth Road early in the second period.
Mads Andersen did nod in Liam Walsh’s corner to rescue a point with 20 minutes left, but the hosts weren’t able to find a winner, Lasse Nordas and Bramall both unable to find the net in stoppage time, as summing up his feelings, Wilshere said: “Frustrated I would say. Tuesday (1-1 draw with Leyton Orient) feels like we gained a point and today it feels like we lost two points. I need to watch it back to have an actual real clear opinion, but I felt like we lacked a little bit of belief which I know at times has been difficult here this season.
"I think we have to constantly look at ways that we can try and lift them as genuinely I’ve got so much belief in these players. I want them to have the same thing for themselves, but at the minute it’s lacking a little bit. We need to find different ways to attack too, we want to be a team of variation and I felt like we didn’t have that today.”
A few things thing that did please Wilshere was the fighting spirit his side were yet again able to demonstrate in the second period as having fallen behind, and seeing boos ring out from the stands, with the atmosphere becoming particularly toxic, they were able to hit back and claim a point to stretch their unbeaten league run to four games.
He also felt Town’s set-pieces were a plus too, as for the second game in a row, it was a Walsh corner that led to the equaliser, while Bramall’s free kick was simply out of this world, as he added another special strike to his ever-increasing highlight reel. It led the boss to add: “I’m happy with the set-pieces as a set-piece is a free ball into the box and you can train that, you can get better at that, as I think you can see we are.
"We obviously scored one at Leyton Orient, which gets you a point, scored one today, gets you a point. I don’t think you’ll know if this is a good point or a bad point until you get to the end of the season and we see where we are. I’m happy with the set-pieces and don’t want to keep talking about the character, as I know there’s character in there and they keep proving it.
"We say it all the time, but there has to be something in it. Sometimes we play our best football when we’re chasing, which we need to be able to produce consistently over the 90 minutes, not just if we need something or we need a goal. But to keep going in a difficult environment, there has to be something in that, so credit to them.”