Lawrence gets 90 minutes in Port Vale draw
Luton boss Jack Wilshere felt there were some promising signs from Manchester City’s loanee Emilio Lawrence during what was his first foray as a wingback for the Hatters at the weekend.
The 20-year-old moved to Kenilworth Road from the Premier League title-chasers during the January transfer window and despite having limited first team experience for his parent side, with just seven appearances in the EFL Trophy, was handed an immediate League One debut for Town in their 2-1 win over Stevenage last month, playing on the left hand side of Town's front three.
Lawrence remained there for the 2-1 loss to Swindon Town in the Vertu Trophy, winning the hosts an early penalty that Jerry Yates converted, also keeping his place when the Hatters drew 2-2 against Lincoln City, although this time moved to the right-hand side, an area he remained in during the 1-0 loss at Plymouth Argyle too.
Emilio Lawrence was back in the Luton XI on Saturday - pic: David Horn / PRiME Media Imagesplaceholder image
Emilio Lawrence was back in the Luton XI on Saturday - pic: David Horn / PRiME Media Images
In each third tier fixture, the Scotland U21 international lasted around an hour before being taken off by Wilshere as he was then amongst the substitutes for the 1-0 loss at Huddersfield Town, introduced for the final four minutes. Lawrence stayed on the bench for the 1-0 win over Blackpool, before not even being included in the squad for three successive matches, eventually returning as Town drew 1-1 with Burton Albion late last month, although didn’t get on.
He got the final seconds of the 2-1 Vertu Trophy win over Plymouth Argyle in midweek, before being surprisingly named on the teamsheet once more when the Hatters went to Port Vale at the weekend, with his position even more of an eyebrow raiser, asked to undertake the left wingback role. However, the visitors’ first half display made it look a fine decision by Wilshere as with just five minutes gone, Lawrence raced on to Joe Johnson’s pass and delivered the perfect low cross into the box for Nahki Wells to prod home from a few yards out.
Lawrence continued to look lively too, and Luton’s most likely source of creating a second, taking George Saville’s crossfield pass and teasing his man before shooting narrowly over, while he had two more attempts blocked, also winning a corner as well. With Vale levelling though, he and the rest of his team-mates had a far less threatening second period, with one a shot blocked behind, but despite Town ringing the changes throughout, he remained on the field for 90 minutes, completing his first full match since moving to Bedfordshire.
Asked why he played in the position and how he felt he got on, Wilshere said: “That’s development, right. When he first came in and we wanted to see where he’s at, we put him in the team, see where he can help us. I thought he showed some times when he did okay, but also some clear things that he had to get better at.
"We challenged him to do that and worked with him on the training pitch, then he gets his opportunity and when you get your opportunity you have to take it. I thought he did okay, he did well. We asked him to play a slightly different role and defend as a wingback which he’s probably never done, but we saw some stuff in training, we worked on some one v one stuff with him so we could try to develop him into that. We know his quality on the ball, I thought he defended well as well.”
With Lawrence in particular catching the eye during the first half, it led to Town having far more opportunities than they have done on their travels recently, none better than when Nigel Lonwijk’s header was clawed over the bar by Vale keeper Joe Gauci. Although happy to see his side have a greater attacking threat, it was also a cause of annoyance for Wilshere that his side didn’t make more of them, continuing: “It’s pleasing, but it’s also frustrating as you have to take those chances.
“Especially away from home in this league as you know that it’s coming, especially with where we’re at at the moment. It feels like we don’t have the capacity to do it consistently for 95 minutes so you know at some point it’s going to come, the pressure and the long balls and we didn't deal with that well enough which allowed the fans to get into the game. So there are some positives, but also it frustrates you too.”
As Wilshere hinted at, with Luton not taking their chances, it always gave Vale the opportunity to hit back, as they did just so before the half hour mark, the equaliser coming when it looked like the Hatters were building a good head of steam themselves, only to be sliced open, failing to keep a clean sheet for the ninth game in succession on the road. The manner of the goal was another real disappointment for Town’s manager too, as he said: “It’s really frustrating as we knew their threat, we knew they were going to be direct.
"We worked on goal kicks as well, and what that looks like for us and trying to free someone up to come through and head it. We win the first contact, but then you have to track your runners and I don’t think we won enough first contacts. We spoke a lot the other day about second balls and you have to win the first or be in there in a duel and compete for it, which we didn’t do well enough.”
In the end, Luton were indebted to two terrific saves from Josh Keeley to ensure they weren’t beaten for a seventh straight away game, as the Irishmen athletically turned ex-Hatter forward Jayden Stockley’s powerful close range header over the bar and then flung himself to his right to parry Martin Sherif’s late curler which appeared destined for the net.
Wilshere added: “Fair play to Josh, because I wouldn’t say he had that much to do, but you need him in those moments. As it’s another thing that when you haven’t got confidence, they’re going to come, they’re going to keep coming. You might lose that duel and then you need your goalie to come up with something and he’s been really good for us all season We needed him today and he came up with it.”
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