Luton Town: John Still warns against great expectations of Jack Marriott

Luton manager John Still has warned against placing too much expectation on the young shoulders of Jack Marriott despite his late brace which ended a spirited resistance from ten-man AFC Wimbledon.

The 21-year-old had not featured since his red card in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy win over Leyton Orient earlier this month, but he entered the fray along with Alex Lawless in a 64^th minute double substitution which helped to turn to contest in Town’s favour.

Indeed, it was the second half changes that made the crucial breakthrough as Ryan Hall’s corner saw Lawless shoot and Marriott scoop in the blocked effort ball.

“The manager was good wasn’t he?,” Still joked, adding: “What we do know is that Jack has goals in him.

“We don’t want to rush him. I’ve found enough forwards in my life to know how to keep him grounded, how to educate him and how to give them the best opportunities to progress their careers. Jack falls into that category.

“Is he ready to start? Maybe, but he’s still learning and it’s important that the expectation on him doesn’t outgrow where he is. Well done Jack.”

Marriott is now Luton’s top goalscorer this term with four and his brace against the Dons came in similar fashion to his first two, when he came off the bench to blast two against Bristol City in a Capital One Cup victory in August.

That was one of the few highlights in a start to the season which saw the Hatters fail to win in their first five League Two outings.

But the victory over Wimbledon saw them record back-to-back victories for the first time this term and move them to within three points of Tuesday’s opponents Morecambe, who occupy the final play-off position.

“When I say we’ve come out of a difficult spell, it’s no more difficult than my first year and no more difficult than last year,” Still said, adding: “That was one of our better performances because we came up against a team that came here not to get beaten.

“I’m not knocking that. We had to be patient to win. The crowd – all crowds – can get a bit restless and they wanted to get the ball up there. When you do get up there they say you’re playing too long. I said, ‘no, let’s just try to be patient, find the ball and find the pass.”

The first half dismissal of Karleigh Osbourne – for two bookable offences three minutes apart – dictated the way Wimbledon tried to constrict the life out of Luton, but Still felt it was harsh on the Dons ace.

“The sending off. It is a sending off and if it was my player I probably wouldn’t have any complaints about it, but the sending offs are soft,” he said, adding: “Letter of the law says he’s got to go, but anyway…

“We came in at half time and I said, ‘they are going to defend even deeper and narrow, so we’ve got to use our width. Don’t kick it down the middle, we’ve got to pass. The crowd might get impatient, but try to pass’ – and we did.

“We said before the game that we were definitely going to get Jack on. I think we were bold because we put two attacking players at full back to get up there and try to provide [crosses].

“They defended very narrow and very well. They let us have the ball in areas and I thought they did it very well.

“I felt Paddy [McCourt] has got a pass to find the goal. We felt Ryan Hall has got a cross to find the goal and we think Craig [Mackail-Smith] has got a goal in him and we think Jack has got a goal in him.

“He got one really good goalscorer’s goal and the other one was a very composed finish. It’s a better goal than some people might think it was.

“I was absolutely delighted with the patience of the side to play 90 minutes and do the job right. I was really pleased.”