Luton manager Jack Wilshere has put his trust in the EFL to investigate and “come to the right decision” after Swindon appeared to field an ineligible player, throwing into doubt the result that saw the Hatters dumped out of the Vertu Trophy.
Certainly, the reaction of the League Two victors to their cup upset was extremely subdued as the 585 travelling Robins fans urged their heroes to celebrate in front of them. They didn’t.
That was likely because 19-goal Aaron Drinan was introduced at half time and even forced James Shea into a save, but he was not named on the official team sheet. Ryan Tafazolli was. And in the 64th minute, after Swindon had come from a goal down to lead 2-1, a lengthy inquest was held on the sidelines, with the officials in deep discussion, while confusion swept around Kenilworth Road.
Wilshere said afterwards: “I didn’t know what to make of it. I thought it took too long. I thought that. We have to come to a decision quicker: are we going to play, are we not going to play? And I want to play, I wanted to carry on playing. I think we can get there quicker and it keeps the flow in the game.
“They’ve obviously made a mistake and, I don’t know the rules, but we have to trust that the EFL will look at it, will investigate it and will come to the right decision.
“I’m trying to focus on the performance. Of course, that’s [team sheet] a major talking point, I know that, but we just have to trust the EFL and when they investigate it. Let’s see.
Wilshere admitted, he didn’t notice when Drinan was introduced at half time, but he said: “I remember before the game, when we were looking when their team sheet came through, Powelly [Chris Powell], did say, ‘he’s not there’, because we know that he’s one of their better players. But we still didn’t notice when he was on the pitch.”
Asked what referee Peter Wright told him at the time, Wilshere said: “He didn’t say much, that’s why I thought he could come [over] quicker or his communication couldn’t have been better, because just tell us what’s happening – and I didn’t know.
“I thought that there was something going around that, yeah, there’s a player on the pitch, but that they weren’t communicating with us and it took seven minutes.
“Then I went over to say, ‘come, let’s go, let’s try and make a decision and eventually we got there.”
Swindon boss Ian Holloway offered to substitute Drinan off, but told the Swindon Advertiser that Wilshere just wanted to continue playing. Yet the experienced manager admitted the error was “a major whoopsie”. He added that the mistake was made on the digital submission, which is how team sheets are now provided to officials, though he said that wasn’t shown to him or his staff so that he could check it.
Wilshere confirmed that during the touchline discussions with officials, he was not given the option to stop the game, but added: “I kept saying, ‘let’s play, let’s play’, but there wasn’t an option after he said that ‘we’ll finish the game and then they’ll investigate it after’.
Wilshere hadn’t spoken to the referee after the game by the time he faced the media, but it was a bizarre and unknown end to a game that that started so positively when Luton took the lead through an early Jerry Yates penalty. They were cruising and creating chances until Will Wright whipped in a cross that evaded everyone in the penalty area and crept inside the far post.
Soon after half time, Shea half parried Ollie Clarke’s headed flick across the face of goal to where Filozofe Mabete showed more desire to sneak in at the back post to stab Swindon in front. At that point, the fourth tier side had managed two shots on target and scored with them both – and one of them wasn’t even a shot.
Luton were rocking, Drinan nearly made it 3-1, but then the fun and games began on the touchline.
Swindon had included the forward on there social media line-up posts before the game, but the official team sheet, submitted to the EFL, did not include him.
So, ten minutes after the visitors took the lead It was brought to the fourth official’s attention and there was a break in play as both teams gathered in front of the dugouts as the officials tried to figure out what was going on.
Neither sets of fans understood the situation and both broke out into chants of “What’s going on?” Eventually the game restarted, Luton huffed and puffed but the momentum of the first half had deserted them and they couldn’t force the game into penalties, though hot-shot academy striker Dawid Gawel was introduced for his professional debut, having scored 33 goals already this term for the under-18s and under-21s.
Whether his big night gets expunged from the record books, or exactly what will be the repercussions for Swindon remains to be seen, pending an EFL investigation.
Comparatively, earlier this season, Shrewsbury were fined £30,000 by the EFL for fielding an ineligible player in their Vertu Trophy game against Chelsea’s under-21 side in August.
Grimsby were also fined a suspended sum of £10,000 for fielding an ineligible player against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup.
But in neither instance, was the ineligible player not named on the team sheet, so there may still be Trophy drama to come.
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