Jack Wilshere sees room for improvement after Luton’s draw at Port Vale

Luton manager Jack Wilshere saw room for improvement after they were held to a 1-1 draw at bottom side Port Vale to extend their winless run in League One to four matches.

Nahki Wells put the Hatters ahead early on, but Ben Waine drew the Valiants level just before the half-hour mark to ensure the spoils were shared.

The result sees Luton, whose last away victory in the league came in early November, remain in 10th place – five points outside the play-off spots.

“We wanted to win, of course we did,” Wilshere said.

“We set the team up the best way we thought could win the game and, actually, I think we started really well.

“We started on the front foot, we picked the times when we decided to play or get behind them, we scored a good goal and we have to go and get the second.

“We have to keep that momentum and not allow them to turn it into the type of game they wanted.

“You have to accept at times that’s going to happen, you’re going to have to deal with that. I don’t think we dealt with that well enough today.

“We’ve been really good, in my opinion, at dealing with direct play, but you can see from the goal we couldn’t quite get the first contact.

“But also the second balls today, we weren’t good enough.”

Vale are still firmly rooted to the foot of the table, despite making it three games without defeat and registering five points in the process.

They face an uphill task in beating the drop with 10 points separating them from safety, but boss Jon Brady praised his players’ mentality and fight.

“I think the most important thing is for them (the players) to see it (showing a good mentality) for themselves,” he said.

“Everyone wants to see us fighting and you can see the boys are absolutely giving everything they’ve got.

“And that change of mentality, that’s down to them. We work on things and talk to them, but it’s down to them. It’s their attitude – they need to own that and they’ve done brilliantly.

“They’ve conceded, they’re competing and running, winning their duels, creating chances, putting blocks on the line.

“It’s all part of the game, but we’re doing it with a real purpose, a real energy to it.

“And we’re connected – I feel our backline is really connected and that’s really pleasing to see. [There was] one moment, one little slip today, but really connected.

“And, again, the fans, they made a massive difference against Reading – [they] almost sucked the ball into the goal for us here last weekend – away at Northampton (on Tuesday) and today you felt them right behind us.”