Jack Wilshere said Callum Marshall’s late winner was a better feeling that anything he had while playing, Luton saw off Leicester, just when it looked like the ten-man Foxes had snatched a point in a thrilling contest.
It would have been harsh on the Hatters to take away anything but three points on this evidence, but they were faced with that very possibility when Liam Cullen curled an equaliser in the 90th minute to cancel out Nahki Wells’ first half opener.
To make it worse at that point, City had seen skipper John Lundstram sent off just five minutes earlier for a reckless challenge on Isaiah Jones, wiping the full back out. He’d already been booked.
And there looked little danger from the visitors, but a rare long ball was laid off by Emill Riis and Cullen caught it sweetly from the edge of the area. James Shea deserved a clean sheet for a handful of superb saves. His wait goes on.
But Luton did not shrink. Having come off the bench, Callum had a sighter when Jamie Donley crossed only for the striker to stretch every sinew and come up short.
But that was not the case four minutes into seven added on when Kal Naismith played a cute ball to free up substitute Emilio Lawrence whose cross was close enough for Marshall to steer it in. Cue bedlam in front of the Kenilworth Road end, including Wilshere with a lung-busting dart down the touchline.
“I love it so much,” said Wilshere, adding: “That feeling, I said to the players in the huddle, I thanked them for it, because it’s the best feeling.
“Honestly, it’s better than playing. It’s better than scoring a goal when you were a player, especially in that context in them circumstances.
“I wanted the players to celebrate this side [near the dugout] so I can get in with them. I did contemplate running across the other side of the pitch, but some of you might know we’re doing 5K a day and I’ve done mine already, so there was no chance I was getting over there.”
The goal in the fourth minute of injury time secured back-to-back victories in League One for the first time this term and it came straight out file marked ‘Luton of old’.
They were electric in the first half. Full throttle, unrelenting that lifted the crowd from the first whistle. But for a couple of point blank saves from Alex McCarthy to deny Wells and Tudor Mendel, they should have ended the half with more than just Wells’ eighth goal of the season, though that was a peach.
It was high-pressing heaven as Jordan Clark pinched the ball from Caleb Okoli on the edge of the City box and played in the striker to sweep home his third goal in four games. There’s no question that Wells is in the form of his Hatters career. He might have had another moments earlier when Okoli lunged in to swipe away the chance.
Leicester too had chances, and put the ball in the net, with the goal given until referee Martin Wood had a chat with his assistant and correctly ruled that Riis was in an offside position because he was behind keeper Shea, taking last man Mads Andersen out of the equation.
The official had such a positive effect that he received their rare honour of being applauded off the Kenilworth Road pitch at the end. That was in part because he’d also ruled correctly that Liam Walsh had connected with the ball overhead through a risky overhead clearance and not Will Smallbone’s head, despite Cit protestations.
It was just one example of Luton defending manfully in the second period when the visitors enjoyed more of the match. And there looked to be no way through until Cullen popped up.
Thankfully, that proved not to be the final chapter in this late drama, because super subs Lawrence and Marshall had other ideas.
Wilshere said: “I want the players and I want everyone to feel it as a big moment.
“We’re not getting carried away. We need to stay humble and stay consistent, but when you look up at the clock in the 88th minute and you’re playing against 10 men that have just scored, that’s tough.
“You’ve got a decision to make. You can go into your shell and you can just see the game out and get a point, but I didn’t feel like that.
“We had an opportunity before that where we put the ball across the front and goal and everyone was on the front foot and everyone knew that we wanted more out of this game.
“We can review the game tactically and everything, but emotionally and desire and passion, everything that we need to be successful in this league, it was there and credit to the players for that.”
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