Luton’s impressive festive period gives Jack Wilshere some cheer

Luton boss Jack Wilshere was elated to see his side record back-to-back home wins for the first time during his reign.

The Hatters produced a dominant first-half display at Kenilworth Road as they beat Leyton Orient 3-0.

Gideon Kodua, Jordan Clark and Shayden Morris were all on target in the opening 37 minutes, which was enough to secure their second triumph of the festive period having beaten Wycombe 4-0 on Boxing Day.

Wilshere, who took charge in October, said: “We spoke after the Reading game (a 3-2 defeat on December 18) about having a mentality shift, but now we need to win games and we did that.

“Then after the game against Wycombe we spoke about, ‘OK now we need to go back-to-back and start building that momentum’. And we did that, so I’m really happy.

“I thought we were excellent in the first half, our decision making around when to play, when to be a little bit more vertical – and when I talk about being vertical I don’t mean we played long balls into nowhere, it might be a pass through the lines, it might be that we go straight into our nine.

“So I thought our decision making was good around that and again, we took our moments at important times and I’m really happy with that.”

Kodua put Luton ahead in the eighth minute by rifling home from 20 yards.

Clark added a second from the spot after Nahki Wells was fouled by Jack Simpson.

And Morris tapped home after 37 minutes when Wells flicked on Kodua’s cross.

Orient should have had one back when Dominic Ballard missed the target from six yards, while Ollie O’Neill was denied a consolation late on by Luton goalkeeper Josh Keeley.

O’s boss Richie Wellens added: “The first half I thought we were OK, but it was moments.

“We probably had more chances than them in terms of good areas, but they’ve got quality at the top end of the pitch and we’ve still got players that need to develop to be better.

“Their first goal’s a great chance but we commit, and we don’t win it right.

“Second goal, I don’t think it’s a penalty. Jack tells me he kicked it against Wells, and the third one we’re unlucky as we’re down to 10 men and Charlie doesn’t quite get back to head it at the back stick.

“To be fair to the players, we showed a lot of fight, they had four shots on our goal and scored three, so their squad is very good for this level and we’ve got players who are striving to get to that level.

“But I won’t change my opinion, we’ve got a couple of weak links that need changing.”