Wilshere thrilled by County clean sheet after 'shock' drubbing at Mansfield
Town aren’t breached at home for the first time since January
Luton boss Jack Wilshere hailed his players for the way in which they came back from what was a sense of ‘shock’ following a 5-2 thrashing at the hands of Mansfield on Sunday when securing their first clean sheet of the season during this evening’s 2-0 victory over Stockport County at Kenilworth Road.
The Hatters players had gone into the match on the back of seeing their impressive 13-game unbeaten run in the league, not just ended, but blown to pieces, following a woeful showing at the One Call Stadium just a few days earlier, as they conceded five times before the hour mark in what was their heaviest defeat since being thrashed by Barnsley back in November.
Having to go again when facing one of the top scorers in the division, Luton showed the kind of defensive heart that is needed if they are to be anywhere near achieving their ambition of promotion this season. Yes, they had some luck along the way, Josh Keeley saving brilliantly from Harry Wood’s drive in the first half, while after the interval, Ollie Norwood’s free kick hit the inside of the post, rather than the back of the net as it had done on this ground last season.
Kyle Wootton and Mikael Mandron also put late headers over the bar, but Nahki Wells’ fifth of the season already, plus Callum Marshall’s stunning strike, which is already a contender for goal of the season, were enough to claim all three points. Speaking afterwards, an elated Wilshere said of the visitors’ inability to score: “It’s really big, really important. It’s not an easy thing to do as well, especially as I didn't think we found our rhythm.
“We did a little bit at times, but we weren't able to sustain it and they're a good team, they play good football and they put you under pressure, so the mentality, the desire, the resilience was what impressed me the most tonight and how proud I am of the players for doing that. We conceded five goals on Sunday, where there were so many things that were wrong with it, but I think the biggest thing that I felt in the dressing room, for the next 24 hours was a little bit of shock from everyone, myself, the players, the staff, especially after the run we've been on.
“To come back and produce that type of performance, with energy and desire like that, to defend our box, to protect everything, when we lost the ball, they played through our press, to run back and get set, before pressing again, I’m really proud of them.”
Having strengthened their defensive unit in the summer by bringing in Bolton’s promotion-winning captain George Johnston, and having a fully-fit Hakeem Odoffin, Luton’s expected solidity was nowhere to be seen in the opening three matches, breached 10 times, including conceding three in one half of football on two occasions.
That wasn’t the case this evening as Town kept a first shut-out on home soil since the 1-0 win over Blackpool on January 31, a run spanning nine league matches. It’s something Wilshere is after as well, as he continued: “Clean sheets are so important and I look at a lot of the goals, I think about the first one at Reading, we gave away some goals, Notts County, the second goal we didn't defend. We’re aware, we’re aware and this is a team thing, this is a squad thing, me included and we have to improve that, we have to keep working at it.
“You don’t go, oh the centre backs or the defenders need to keep clean sheets, it’s everyone, it's a collective thing that we need to improve on and we did it tonight. You can see, when everyone's running back, when we’re in a block, we’re hard to beat. Top teams can do that, it’s fine, it’s absolutely fine. We’re not always going to be a team that just completely dominates and have everything our way, this is League One, it’s tough, it's really, really tough and the players showed that tonight.”
Prior to the game, Wilshere rung the changes for the contest, five in total, moving to a three-man defence that had worked so well at Chelsea on Thursday evening, keeping the Blues’ expensively assembled front-line, including Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers, quiet for 50 minutes, only conceding twice in West London.
They went with the same system against the other Hatters, captain Kal Naismith dropping to the bench along with Izzy Jones, as Mads Andersen went into the centre of Hakeem Odoffin and George Johnston, while Harrison Ashby excelledt right wingback, with Benny Benagr on the left. Dan Gore and Wells also came in, Jake Richards and Marshall among the replacements, Emilio Lawrence missing out completely.
Wilshere added: “We played that formation against Chelsea, we did it a few times last year and we have to be flexible depending on who we’re playing.
“Against a team like Stockport, I thought it was best to as they can really hurt you in that gap between midfield and defence. We wanted to keep that tight and sometimes when they do find that space, to have that extra centre half there to jump out, really helps. I thought we did that really well. At the end of the first half, they stretched our units a little bit, that’s what they want to do, that’s what they try and do. So we spoke about that at half time, starting well, and they executed it.”