Jack Wilshere lauds ‘excellent’ Kasey Palmer after Luton win at Rotherham

Luton manager Jack Wilshere was impressed by Kasey Palmer’s quality and energy levels as he netted a double to earn them a 2-0 win at Rotherham.

The Hatters remain in the play-off hunt, just three points adrift with two games left, after matching Stevenage’s result and extending their unbeaten streak to 10 matches.

Wilshere said: “I thought he (Kasey) was excellent and he’s given a lot as well.

“But to produce a performance like that after a big week last week, to go again this week and in the context of where we are and what we need, he’s showed his quality.

“Big players come up with big goals and he certainly is that.

“I think we could have got more than two goals.

“The context was that we had to come here and win so I am really satisfied and happy with that.

“Scoring early helped. We had spoken about that and the players executed it.

“Credit to the backline as well. They stay focused throughout.

“There were questions asked of them in the second half, which you always expect, but ideally we would have scored three or four by that point, but we hadn’t so we had to defend our box.”

Palmer smashed Luton into an eighth-minute lead as he got on the end of Shayden Morris’ cross.

Already-relegated Rotherham had a few opportunities to get level but shots from Cohen Lee and Jamal Baptiste were kept out.

The same combination struck again for Luton before the break with Palmer nodding beyond Ted Cann.

Nahki Wells came close to a third when his close-range shot hammered off the crossbar and away to safety.

Rotherham enjoyed a good spell in the last half an hour but saw their efforts thwarted by Josh Keeley, who made good saves from substitutes Jack Holmes and Dru Yearwood.

Millers manager Lee Clark said: “First half, I thought we played with a little bit of a fear factor.

“We gave a good Luton team too much respect both in and out of possession.

“Our pressing game wasn’t at the levels we wanted and when we had opportunities to hit them on the break we didn’t play forward.

“We played with a little bit of nervousness and that could be understandable with the youngsters we had in there.

“Second half, we’ve played a better pressing game and created chances and on another day we could have scored a goal or two.

“We wanted to follow a good performance away from home in front of your home fans.

“The fans have had an absolutely dreadful season and we want to give them something to shout about. We have got one more opportunity on Saturday.”