Jack Wilshere praises Luton’s set-piece contributions after win at Wycombe

Luton manager Jack Wilshere was pleased with his side’s set-pieces as two corners resulted in two goals in the Hatters’ 2–1 League One away win at Wycombe.

Midway through the first half, Liam Walsh’s corner was headed in by Kal Naismith for his second of the season.

Five minutes before the break, Kasey Palmer planted a header beyond Wycombe goalkeeper Will Norris from a George Saville corner.

The result ended Luton’s 10-game winless league run away from home, with their most recent victory on their travels coming against Stockport in November.

It also continues the Hatters’ impressive record at Adams Park, where they are unbeaten in 16 matches in all competitions – winning nine and drawing seven.

Wilshere said: “We scored two very good goals from set plays but I thought we could have created a little bit more in the final third as we made the wrong decisions sometimes.

“I thought we could have played better at times but away from home, I think today was our most mature performance.

“I thought we defended our box really well at times. We were very good, especially in the first half with our high press. We won the ball back a lot and dealt with the direct play.

“When you press a team really well, they will start to go over you and we needed to deal with that, which we did.

“We work on them (set-pieces) a lot and we executed today, so fair play to the lads.

“When you are a threat at set-pieces, you have a chance to win every game.”

For Wycombe head coach Michael Duff, he urged his team to become a “winning team” rather than simply a “good team”.

The result means back-to-back league defeats for Wanderers for the first time since August.

It was also the first time since December that the Chairboys had lost consecutive matches.

The second period lacked any real quality and, despite Junior Quitirna’s well-taken finish deep into injury time, Wycombe’s play off push has taken another blow following last weekend’s dramatic 3–2 loss at Bolton.

The Chairboys currently sit ninth with 53 points, three places and three points off the play-offs.

Duff said: “We got old-schooled a little bit as we kept giving stupid fouls away, so we couldn’t build any rhythm in the game.

“We were good in the first half and in the second we dominated the game, but we were too slow and passive and lost too many duels. We were naive.

“I said a few weeks ago that we need to stop being a good team and become a winning team.

“Last week, we were good but didn’t win. This week, we were average but didn’t win.

“That’s our next challenge – it’s the mentality.

“It was flat all around and we need to find ways to pick up points.”