Luton Town will be without manager Jack Wilshere on the touchline for today’s League One trip to AFC Wimbledon after he confirmed his yellow card during the 2-1 Good Friday win over Peterborough United triggers a one-match ban.
Wilshere was booked for protesting after Kasey Palmer was denied what he believed should have been a late penalty during the Hatters’ 2-1 victory at Kenilworth Road.
Managers are given a one-game touchline ban for every three yellow cards they receive so the caution reached that threshold and means he will have to watch today’s game from the stands as Luton attempt to build momentum in the push for the play-offs.
Speaking after the win over Peterborough, the Town boss admitted the situation was frustrating, particularly as he felt the incident that prompted his protest should have resulted in a spot-kick, as Palmer had his shirt pulled just when he was about to shoot.
“[It’s] a bad decision,” Wilshere said, adding: “I don’t understand how how it’s not a penalty. You look at the reaction of the players and he’s actually pulled Kasey down and interrupted his finish. He was going to score. so, yeah, I don’t understand how that’s not a penalty.”
When asked if the booking meant he would now serve a touchline ban at Wimbledon, Wilshere said: “Yeah it is. We need, I need, to speak to the staff and we need to come up with a process for Monday that that works for us all. it’s frustrating because actually it’s a penalty. And then if the penalty happens, I don’t get booked, but it is what it is.”
The ban means assistant manager Chris Powell – who has plenty of experience as the main man – is likely to be conveying the instructions from the dugout at the Cherry Red Records Stadium, where Town will be looking to complete their first ever Football League double over AFC Wimbledon.
Despite the setback, Wilshere’s focus quickly turned to the challenge awaiting his side at Plough Lane as Luton look to follow up their win over Peterborough with another positive result, hopefully one that’s less nervy that the three points against Posh.
Wilshere felt his side could have made that contest far more comfortable if they had been more clinical in front of goal, especially at the start of the second half when Town took a 2-0 lead and created chances to add more.
“You score the third and you score the fourth, I think that’s a real lesson and a clear example. And it’s not always been like that,” he said, adding: “At times we haven’t kept pressing or we haven’t kept playing. Keep playing. We spoke about that. But [against Peterborough] I think the score just score a third. scored a fourth and then the game’s done.
“Because what I’m starting to learn as well, at this level, teams will always come, especially away from home. Probably a lot of teams that will come to this place [Kenilworth Road] and try and stay in the game for a long period of time and then have a go at the end. So, yeah, we just needed to score.”
Luton will assess the fitness of defender Mads Andersen ahead of the Wimbledon game after he returned to training, while striker Ali Al-Hamadi is also available again after returning from international duty on Friday, but missing out on the squad to face Peterborough.
“Mads is training, so we’ll see how he is,” Wilshere said, adding: “Ali is fit. Kasey and Ali are in the same position, right? They both arrived yesterday [Friday] at, I think, midday. So they didn’t train with us. We got them in to see how they were and my decision was to put Kasey in the in the squad and not Ali, but probably because, Kasey has played a lot of minutes for us. He’s played a lot of games.
“Ali has been a bit stop-start for us. I know he came off the bench against Stockport, but he hasn’t got that load behind him where he can just fit into the squad. We’ll assess how he is.”
Wilshere expects a difficult encounter against a Wimbledon side managed by Johnny Jackson who, despite a winless five-game run, appear to have steered away from relegation danger. And the Hatters boss knows that away games in League One have proved particularly demanding this season. Victory at Wycombe last month – the last time Town played away from Kenilworth Road – was their first on the road in ten games.
Wilshere said: “[They’re a] good team. I know the [manager] there, Johnnie Jackson, but also the coach, Dave Reddington. He was my coach when I went to Denmark at the end of my career. He was one of the coaches, so I know him and how hard he works. I know how he thinks about football and how much he loves it.
“And same as Johnnie, they’ll try and get everything they can out of every single player. And, it’s going to be a tough game. It’s a tough place to go.
“Away from home in this league seems to and has been tough for us this season. We won the last game, but, yeah, it requires something a little bit different. We’ll go there with with a plan to try and get all three points, but we expect a tough game.”
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