Wilshere lauds Naismith's ability to bounce back and deliver 'special moment'

Luton boss Jack Wilshere hailed the manner in which skipper Kal Naismith has been able to bounce back from the adversity this season to step up and deliver what was a truly ‘special moment’ against Northampton Town last night.

The 34-year-old has not been without his critics this season, as after a tough campaign, he then made a huge error against Reading last month which led to the Royals snatching a late victory, dropped from the side for the trip to Doncaster Rovers, immediately returning against Wycombe Wanderers the following match, where he opened the scoring in a 2-1 victory.

Speaking honestly afterwards, Naismith, who has never once shirked putting himself up for interview no matter how he has played, stated he was ‘not done’ and has importantly begun showing just that on the pitch, with a dramatic upturn in form, delivering some excellent individual display, none more so than last night when he was one of the stand-out performers in a difficult first half.

Although Luton improved in the second period, it appeared that they were going to be left frustrated until, level at 1-1 against a Cobblers side about to be relegated, before the hosts won a free kick some 30 yards from goal with five minutes remaining. Knowing victory was absolutely essential to cut the gap to Stevenage in sixth, who had been thrashed 5-1 at Bolton Wanderers 24 hours earlier, the skipper stepped up to arrow a quite magnificent set-piece beyond keeper Lee Burge and into the net, before racing off to celebrate with the bench in scenes that were hugely reminiscent of his memorable winner against Bournemouth in January 2022.

On the goal, Wilshere said: “It was a special moment when we needed it, and we needed it. At times this season when I’ve tried to support Kal as much as I have, there has been question marks and I think Kal will be the first one to say at times he could have performed better, but why I love him is because of that. Because of his leadership, because of his ability to deal with adversity and his resilience, his leadership qualities are some of the best I’ve seen and I’ve played with some really, really good captains.

"This team needs that and he came up with a really important goal. He’s had a good week and also part of the reason why I like him so much is I know how much he loves this club. He is so happy. I spoke to him after the game on Sunday with his mum and his family, they all love this club and you see that in his eyes. He tries all the time, yes he can do better at times and we keep trying to help him and show him the good things and the bad things that he does, but he’s a leader and he definitely led the way tonight.

“He can bounce back and don’t get me wrong, I’m not sitting here and saying you can make all the mistakes you want and I’m still going to love you. We go through them, we sit down with him, he knows that we don’t accept that, but his ability to bounce back and stand up and hold his hands up, and this group really, really needs that. With the adversity we’ve faced this year, where the clubs been, Premier League, relegation, relegation, some players who weren’t here and experienced that and then step into an environment that is demanding, that there’s expectation, and rightly so.

"You need leaders who’ve been there, it’s not just Kal, Nahki (Wells), Savs (George Saville) has been amazing as well. Clicker (Jordan Clark), all these players, we really, really need their leadership, their experience and they keep delivering. Young players need to look at that, we’ve got some exciting young players who need to develop even more resilience and certainly having players like Kal and leaders in the group help with that.”

When substitute Ali Al-Hamadi was brought down for the free kick, then Naismith was straight over from his position in the back three to take it, despite Kasey Palmer, who had hit the post in the first half from his own set-piece, being on the pitch. It proved to be the right move, Naismith’s attempt in from the moment it left his boot, as asked if it was something he does regularly at the Brache, Wilshere continued: “He does and there’s a group of them that practice that.

"I’m not going to name names, but a few people doubted him on the bench, saying, ‘no let Davy (van den Berg) take it,’ but there was only one person going to take that. I could see it in Kal’s eyes, when Cohen (Bramall) plays he’s probably the best free kick taker I’ve ever seen, but Cohen wasn’t on the pitch, so we’ve been looking at other players who can take it on and Kal’s certainly one.

"He’s got a lovely left foot and he delivered. If you watch the goal back, you can see from the moment that Ali got fouled, Kal sprinted over and he was like, yes I’m going to take this ball and there was no-one else going to take it. He was in the zone and credit to him as he delivered for his team and what a strike.”

The sheer quality of the goal was made that more impressive due to the significance of the moment, as with time running out and Luton already having seen Clark fire over twice, Al-Hamadi hit the post and Shayden Morris flash wide, then Naismith knew he almost had to score if the Hatters were going to have any realistic chance of catching the top six.

Having raced over to celebrate with his manager, Naismith was then mobbed by his team-mates as they then engulfed him at the final whistle once more, a clear demonstration of just how much the centre half means to the squad, with Wilshere adding: “You could see the importance of the goal. We all knew we needed to find a way and I think you could see, number one the importance of the goal, but number two, how much Kal means to the squad, to the staff.

"They love him, the boys love him, he demands from everyone. At half time he was holding court in the dressing room and almost did my job for me. He was demanding more, saying we need to run more, saying we need to compete more, stressing the importance of this time is now, we’re here, we need to deliver it. The team did that without scoring and then we needed a goal and he stepped up, so he really showed his leadership qualities.

"He’s also had a career in this game and been in this position at the end of the season so many times when you know you just have to find a way to get over the line, so he’s certainly done that. I’ve spoken about it a lot with this group and I really do feel it. The unity we have in this group, we keep banging on about it, days like Sunday help and days and moments like tonight really help as well.”