Substitute Callum Marshall announced himself on the Kenilworth Road stage with a striker’s finish to savour that rescued a point against Notts County — but boss Jack Wilshere says he will lose sleep over one of the goals Luton conceded.
Thankfully, that was cancelled out by a sublime swivel and shot from Town’s summer signing on his home debut, which showed the killer instinct that convinced his manager to raid West Ham this summer.
And in a disappointing, but not disastrous draw, to have a new forward up and running will be a welcome relief, one that shows Luton will score plenty of goals this season. They’ve not netted two goals or more in their last 11 competitive games, even if at this early stage, it is letting them in – five in two league games – that must be addressed urgently.
But talking about Marshall’s goal, Wilshere said: “He does that every single day in training. When you think there’s not a chance, he creates a chance — shifts it right foot, left foot.
“He grabs a coach every single day after training and works on his finishing. So there’s no surprise for me that when he gets half a yard like that, he wants to shoot and he wants to score.”
It’s early days, but in two successive league games, Luton have only shown what they’re about when provoked.
They took the lead in the 42nd minute through a Nahki Wells penalty, with the striker on spot-kick duties after Jordan Clark was stretchered off and taken to hospital following a nasty head clash.
Wilshere said: “We were worried. I think it actually affected us as well on the pitch. I think we lost our rhythm a little bit after that — maybe because of the stop, maybe because our mate is hurt.
“But he’s in the best place. Let’s see what the tests come back with, but he’s OK.”
On Wells’ second goal in three games, the boss added: “[I’m] happy for Nahki because he obviously missed a few last year, and he missed the last one at Bolton. I see him working on it all the time, so yeah, happy for him.”
But the lead only lasted four minutes when Callum Roberts’ shot took a wicked deflection off George Johnston.
While that was unlucky, Luton’s defence totally went to sleep to allow Ollie Cooper the freedom and space of the Oak Road end to slot beneath Josh Keeley. Isaiah Jones and Mads Andersen – in for Hakeem Odoffin – opted to both mark Luka Smyth and Cooper couldn’t believe his luck, nor the room he had to hurt the Hatters. It was woeful defending and with 29 minutes remaining, left the hosts with a mountain to climb. They had not been at their best until that point.
Wilshere said: “We have to look at the second goal we conceded because we can’t allow someone in our box with no one around him. I need to see it again.”
Town have now conceded five goals in their opening two League One games and asked if that figure will give him sleepless nights, he said: “Yes. Look at me!”
But adversity seems Town’s fuel at the moment and from there Kasey Palmer took hold of the contest.
He found Marshall who, along with Benny Benagr both came of for their home debuts, were the reinforcements. The striker, in one fluid movement controlled, swivelled and found the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
Twenty-four hours earlier, boss Wilshere was asked if he needed a target man before the transfer window closed. He doesn’t think so and Marshall’s answer was even more emphatic.
Before that, Gideon Kodua was less so. The last-gasp hero one week and a hands-in-head miss the next, as he missed a sitter, put on a plate for him by Emilio Lawrence. He fired over from eight yards, while Kal Naismith and Jake Richards both skied presentable shooting chances.
And Palmer saw James Belshaw fingertip his daisy-cutter around the post before Luton were denied a penalty.
Huge handball shouts roared from the stands and among the orange shirts on the pitch. They all saw Ishe Samuels-Smith jump and miss a free-kick, but Lee Ndlovu, behind him, head it straight onto his team-mate’s outstretched hand, unnatural position and all.
There was a dramatic waving gesture of denial from referee Ben Speedle, who had not ingratiated himself with either fanbase, having earlier waved away a penalty box push on Marshall, which was just one of the indiscretions that led to chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing”.
Wilshere was left with his head in his hands at the decision, and he said afterwards: “The second one is handball. However, we know the new rules — if an opposition player heads it onto an opposition’s arm, that is not a penalty. I challenged that when they [officials] told us, because I think that’s too much of a grey area. It can happen that someone heads it and his arms are in the wrong place, but for me, his arm shouldn’t be there. It’s not a natural position.”
After that, Wilshere’s men pushed and probed but couldn’t find the key to unlock the Magpies’ defence again.
They say if you can’t win, don’t lose, but given the pre-match excitement around this game, it wasn’t the result or the statement that Hatters had been hoping for, despite remaining unbeaten since March, albeit across two seasons.
But perhaps in the coming days, it will be better to reflect on yet another young player in successive weeks — first Benny Benagr, then Gideon Kodua and this time Marshall — who have grabbed his opportunity with both hands.
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