Luton Town’s remarkable late push for the League One play-offs fell agonisingly short despite a dramatic 3-2 victory at Bolton Wanderers, with a controversial late goal for Stevenage ultimately denying them a top-six finish.
The Hatters did everything required of them on the final day, taking the lead through Jordan Clark’s penalty and then coming from behind to to level through Hakeem Odoffin, then securing a gutsy win at a venue that Wanderers had only lost once all season, sealed by Shayden Morris’ late injury-time strike.
But events elsewhere overshadowed their efforts, as Stevenage’s winner against Wigan moments before Morris’ – which did not appear to cross the line – ensured Luton’s season ended in frustration, leaving them one point short of the top six and facing up to another season in League One.
It brought a cruel end to a run that had seen Town surge into play-off contention with a string of victories, only to be denied by circumstances beyond their control.
Even as Morris found the net, news filtered through that Stevenage had scored, leaving Luton’s fate out of their hands.
“Yeah, we’d heard,” Wilshere said of knowing that Stevenage’s late winner had already been awarded when Morris scored a goal-line tap-in, adding: “We done all we could.”
Attention quickly turned to the controversial nature of Stevenage’s decisive goal, with replays suggesting the ball had not fully crossed the line. Wilshere stopped short of blaming officials, but made it clear there had been too many questionable decisions over the course of the season.
Reflecting on the decisive moment, manager Wilshere made it clear there had been wider issues with officiating across the campaign, not just on the final day.
“I’m pretty sure you guys have seen the Stevenage goal and I wouldn’t say that I’m surprised,” Wilshere told the BBC.
“When I’m in that process of reflecting on the season, there’ll be some games, I think back to the Lincoln game where we didn’t get the goal that we deserved and some other decisions.
“It’s been across the board. That’s not been good enough. And that is definitely something… it’s out of our control, but I’d like to think as managers we can come together and have discussions about how we improve that, because it’s not been good enough all season.”
Wilshere’s side knew they had to win and started with intent, and when Isaiah Jones was tripped in the penalty area, Clark stroked home while slipping, which prompted Bolton protests that he’d touched the ball twice, though referee Carl Brook was unmoved. For five minutes, Luton were in the top six, where they’d not ventured since August – but then they went to sleep.
Jordi Osei-Tutu punished them, curling into the bottom corner. And then, just before half-time Ibrahim Cissoko ran through on goal and converted.
The Hatters had hit the woodwork three times in the first half through Emilio Lawrence, Kasey Palmer and Mads Andersen, but both goals they conceded came from moments the manager felt were avoidable against a Bolton side already booked in for the play-offs, but were still hoping to secure third place and a more favourable draw.
“I thought in the first half we gave them two goals in my opinion, set piece, second phase where we switched off and then we gave the ball away,” Wilshere said.
“But apart from that, we defended really well against a really good team with good players that can hurt you.”
Despite the setbacks, Luton stayed in the game, showing the resilience that has underpinned their turnaround in recent weeks. Goalkeeper Josh Keeley was called into action on several occasions.
But Luton have scored two or more goals in every game for the last month and that ability eventually told in the second half. Odoffin headed in a corner to level and then Morris struck late on to complete the turnaround and spark short-lived scenes of celebration among the travelling supporters, though some knew what had transpired at Stevenage.
Despite that, Wilshere said of his side’s finale: “I said it last week after Barnsley, you always feel like we’ve got something in us to produce something. And we did.
“You have to be able to suffer. You have to be able to dig in, you have to be able to run. You have to make sure that you’re winning your individual battles. And I think that’s one of the biggest things that we’ve developed that I’m really proud of.”
Despite the disappointment, Wilshere was full of pride for his players, who have transformed their campaign in the final seven weeks with form and results, which had they done that over the course of the season, would have equated to a title-winning campaign. That it didn’t was down to a poor first two-thirds of the season.
But on the late surge that pushed Town to the brink of the play-offs, Wilshere said: “I’m really, really proud of every single player in that dressing room. Players that didn’t make the squad as well, because they’re the guys who put us in this position. And to come here and win, that takes guts to do that.
“There’s times where people have questioned that, questioned me about sticking with the players and saying we’ve got leaders, we’ve got resilience and we’ve got character. I saw it every single day. And yeah, at times it was difficult to show, but it was always there.”
The Luton boss also paid tribute to the supporters, with around 3,000 that travelled and applauded the team at full-time despite falling agonisingly short overall.
“I’m gutted for the fans because they’ve stuck with us through the whole time that I’ve been here, it’s not always been easy,” he said.
“They’ve always travelled away, they’ve always stuck with us. And when I talk about the whole football club, the fans are included in that.
“I think their support deserved us to be at least in the play-offs, but we fell short.”
The last two months, however, has shown the reemergence of the real Luton Town and there’s a sense that if they can take that form into the start of next season, that the end of the campaign will be one of celebration, not what ifs.
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