Luton boss Jack Wilshere admitted his side must learn to see games out after conceding a late equaliser against Colchester in the Jersey Mike’s Subs Trophy.
The Hatters looked to have secured victory when Devante Cole scored his second goal in as many games in the 87th minute, only for League Two side Colchester to level three minutes later from a long throw and tap in for Bradley Ihionvien, which forced a penalty shoot-out.
Luton eventually prevailed 4-3 on penalties, earning an extra point in the group, with Mads Andersen scoring the winning spot-kick after Dan Gore had missed for the Hatters, but James Shea had saved twice from United efforts.
But Wilshere was frustrated that his side had allowed the game to slip away after finally breaking down a stubborn defence.
“We probably deserved our goal,” he told LTFC+, adding: “Just go and go and see it through.
“I think that’s probably the feeling in the dressing room. And that’s the lesson that we have to take because, I know this is League Two, but in League One it’s the same as well.
“You’re going to get games where you have to dig in and maybe get a late goal against a stubborn defence. And then you want to be able to see it out and deal with long throws, which in general this season and set pieces defending, we’ve done really well.
“So yeah, that’s a frustration and that’s probably the lesson we take from it.”
Luton had struggled to find a way through a Colchester side that defended deep for long periods, but Wilshere felt his team improved after the interval.
“I didn’t think we did that enough in the first half where got into good areas, but then we turned down the cross and they got back behind the ball,” he said.
“It was hard to break them down. It was probably an opportunity to put the ball in the box a little bit more.
“We spoke about that at half time. I thought we done it better in the second half, and got behind them a little bit more.”
The Hatters have now not tasted victory for a month in regular time, albeit this match came after 10 days without a game, due to the International break.
But Wilshere also acknowledged that Colchester had created problems of their own, particularly when they managed to find Luton’s defensive line.
“They had some nice moments as well where they played it into the last line and caused us a little bit of trouble, which we have to look at, and we have to be able to cope with that better than we did,” he said. “But we spoke about that at half time and I thought in the second half the boys were good.”
Luton ultimately needed penalties to settle the tie, with the shoot-out victory giving them two points from the match rather than one.
Wilshere was pleased with the outcome but also believes the experience could prove useful later in the season.
“We practice penalties all the time and, yeah, it’s important, the extra point,” he said, adding: “You never know what could happen at the end of the season. You might need a penalty shootout at some point. So yeah to get a good feeling to get a win in it is nice.”
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