Luton boss Jack Wilshere insisted dropping Josh Keeley for James Shea was the right decision despite the goalkeeper being beaten by Bradford City’s first attack in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat.
Shea returned between the posts for his first league appearance since New Year’s Day, but Bobby Pointon’s fourth-minute header evaded him to give Bradford a lead they never surrendered.
Wilshere described the goal as “avoidable” after the match and admitted the Hatters cannot afford to concede in such circumstances.
But the Luton manager said he had made the decision to change goalkeeper at the right time after assessing the work done by Shea and Keeley in training.
“I feel like it was the right time,” Wilshere said. “We did a lot of work on defending in pre-season. We conceded a lot of goals, but when you look at the expected goals against, we’re quite high in the table. Which shows we’re doing a lot of good things and the defence also needs to help Josh and vice versa.”
Keeley was criticised after last week’s 2-1 defeat at Stevenage for not saving the first goal, while another big blunder went unpunished when he raced out of his area to deal with a long ball, but totally misjudged the bounce. It should have resulted in a goal for Dan Kemp but his tangle with last man Hakeem Odoffin cut that out and the Luton defender was not punished for a clash that could have resulted in a red card.
Wilshere said he had spoken directly with Keeley, 23, before making the change and stressed his belief in the young goalkeeper.
“I had a good conversation with Josh. I love Josh. I think he’s a top, top young goalie,” said the manager. “And I think also sometimes it can help him long term that he steps out of it a little bit, [so] he reflects a little bit.”
The Luton boss also explained why he wants competition rather than a rigid hierarchy between his goalkeepers, though 35-year-old Shea, who has been at Luton since 2017, enjoyed all but one of his 11 appearance last term, in cup competitions, as Town won the Vertu Trophy at Wembley.
“I’ve always said at this level, I think you generally need two number ones competing all the time,” Wilshere said. “We don’t have a one, two, three and there’s a pecking order. Since I’ve been here, Josh has been in the team and he’s done really well and he’s earned that spot.
“But Sheasy’s been working in the background, working really hard, when called upon, produced some good performances. So yeah, I thought it was the right time.”
Wilshere admitted the conversation with Keeley was difficult but said honesty was important.
“We had a good conversation, me and Josh. Of course it’s not a nice conversation. It’s not an easy conversation,” he said. “But I always say I’ll try and be as honest as I can with players. And from my experience, that always works best.”
Shea’s return ultimately proved costly as Luton were unable to find an equaliser despite dominating large parts of the first half and forcing Bradford to defend for long periods.
Asked for his view on the goal, Wilshere said: we can’t concede a goal like that in the third minute against a team like this, because it’s avoidable. And then they’re going to make it really difficult for you.”
He added: “It’s not a good goal to concede. I think you can take it further back than that. You know, we missed an opportunity maybe to play forward. We end up circulating and playing back to Sheasy. Then he’s under a lot of pressure.
“He goes to kick it. We don’t drop, we don’t land on second balls and we’re open when that happens. Then they transition quick and put a good ball in the box and we have to recover quicker and deal with that situation.”
The defeat leaves Wilshere with a decision to make over who starts in goal when Luton return to League One action in three weeks’ time, though they face two Vertu Trophy ties in between, starting with the visit of Ipswich Under-21s tomorrow night.
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