Wilshere wants Luton to 'bottle' Wembley winning feeling for League One run-in
Hatters boss determined to head back to Wembley next month
Luton boss Jack Wilshere has told his players to ‘bottle’ the feeling of winning at Wembley in the Vertu Trophy final on Sunday as they bid to return to the home of English football in the League One play-off final next month.
The Hatters will have to come from the pack in order to do so, although saw the door to the top six left ajar last night when Stevenage, in sixth spot, were hammered 5-1 at third-placed Bolton Wanderers. That result means Town are now six points adrift of the dotted line, with five matches to go, although they now have a game in hand over Boro, who host champions Lincoln City this weekend.
Having defeated Stockport County at the home of English football to lift the cup, Wilshere held an impromptu huddle with his squad following the full time whistle, and asked what message he had given them, he said: “I told them that I’m proud of them, it’s important that they enjoy this, but remember the feeling as well. We want to come back, we want to bottle this feeling to use it as motivation going forward into the next five league games. For me it’s next game and we’ve been that way the whole time. We’ve got ambition in the league which starts again Wednesday.”
Luton begin their run-in when hosting Northampton Town this evening, as they go up against a Cobblers side who will be relegated if they themselves don’t win, while the Cobblers could also go down if AFC Wimbledon avoid defeat at home to Stockport County. On whether his side will find it hard to come down from the high they experienced at the weekend, Wilshere continued: “Of course we have ambition and of course we want to achieve something this season, but we have to look at it as the next challenge is Northampton.
"We played them in one of my first games away from home, we won 1-0, and then again another tough game in the semi-final, which was a slightly different context. Now they’re in a position where they need to win games and they’ll be doing all they can, so we need to be ready for that. We need to keep it going, need to keep the energy high, hopefully this can give us another boost, another feeling of confidence, of belief.
"They’re a different team Northampton, they’re fighting for their lives, so we expect another tough game where we’re going to have to deal with direct play, have to make sure physically we’re there, mentally we’re there. We’re trying to win the game in the right way when we get the ball, but make sure we’re doing everything we can do off the ball as well.”
Wilshere, meanwhile, was happy to see Luton going into the game having kept their first clean sheet in the league since January 31 at AFC Wimbledon in their last outing on Easter Monday, stating: “I felt at times in a lot of games, Bradford, I even think Peterborough we should have kept a clean sheet and that’s been frustrating because the foundation for what we’re trying to do, was built on that earlier on in the season. Then we lost our way with it a little bit and gave away cheap goals, but we got it back and hopefully we can build on it.”
Club legend Mick Harford believes that the Hatters have given themselves every chance of reaching the top six, having won five of their last six games in all competitions, as he added: “If we can sneak into the play-offs in terms of the form we’re on now we don’t know what we need, we might need four wins and a draw, we might need five wins, but I think the way we’re playing at the moment, we’re capable of doing it. It’s a great opportunity for the players, for everyone at the club to try and break into the top six.”