Jason Walker vows to come back to haunt Hatters at Wembley

The York City striker was widely scapegoated by Hatters fans for the penalty shoot-out defeat at the hands of AFC Wimbledon after his chipped spot kick was saved by Seb Brown.

A lot of the criticism became fierce and personal and the penalty proved Walker’s last kick in Luton colours as he went on to sign for the Minstermen in a £60,000 deal last summer.

Now, the 28-year-old forward is out to inflict more misery on his old team this Sunday when City meet the Hatters at Wembley to contest a place in the Football League.

On the treatment he has received from some supporters, which is likely to carry on into this weekend’s match, a forgiving Walker said: “I was maybe a little bit surprised by the severity of it but not really.

“When you look at the likes of York, Wrexham and Mansfield, there are a lot of big clubs in this league and Luton are a massive club at this level.

“They used to play in the Championship and it was a massive game for them so emotions run high when things like that happen.

“I hadn’t really had a low point in my career if I’m being honest but that was not nice.”

Despite his 12-yard mishap last season and a conversion rate of just 60 per cent from his five penalties for the Minstermen in 2011-12, Walker has insisted he will not hesitate to step forward should this weekend’s match go the full distance too.

He said: “I would definitely volunteer to take a penalty again.

“It was just one of those unlucky things I guess.

“If it had gone in, then it would have been a totally different story so, if it goes to penalties and if I am picked and still on the pitch, hopefully I will be one of the first to take one.”

With many of his team-mates stressing that Saturday’s FA Trophy final victory over Newport County will provide great inspiration ahead of the club’s second trip to the national stadium in as many weekends, Walker also plans to draw strength from how it felt to be defeated against Wimbledon last May at the City of Manchester Stadium.

He added: “Getting to back-to-back play-off finals is brilliant for me and I will learn from what happened last season.

“I know what it’s like to be a loser and I don’t want to experience that again.”

Instead of being the villain, Walker was also inches away from being a Hatters hero when his powerful header bounced off the inside of Brown’s post in the 89th minute of last season’s final with the scores deadlocked at 0-0.

On the narrow margins in football that can change and define careers, Walker said: “It was just one of those things. It wasn’t my day and that’s sometimes how it goes.

“You never know but I can’t say that I would still be at Luton if it had gone in.

“I came to York because I believed in what the manager was saying and because he believed in me. I was just delighted to be joining York and want to help get them promoted now.”

Had former Manchester United and Northern Ireland midfielder Sammy McIlroy shown more faith in Walker’s potential five years ago, the Barrow-born striker might also have been a Football League player at the age of 23.

McIlroy, then Morecambe manager, recruited Walker from Scottish side Morton in January 2007 but released him two months later after just five league outings.

The Shrimps went on to clinch promotion from the Conference in the first-ever competitive game staged at the redeveloped Wembley stadium just a matter of weeks later, beating the Minstermen in the play-off semi-finals on the way.

Morecambe are currently preparing for a sixth season in League Two while Walker has continued to ply his trade in non-League football for Barrow, Luton and City.

The 18-goal Cumbrian marksman said: “I did look at how Morecambe did after I left with a little bit of envy. I didn’t really get on well with the manager because he never really played me but, at the end of the season they ended up going up and I had to watch them on TV, which wasn’t a nice feeling.

“Things change though and I’ve gone on to win two FA Trophy finals at Wembley. Hopefully, I can now win another game there and teams that get promoted tend to do well in League Two.

“You only have to look at Stevenage this season. They were in the play-offs trying to get into the Championship.”

Given the Minstermen’s impressive recent record against Sunday’s opponents, Walker is confident of a fourth win against the Hatters in 2011-12 while respecting the progress his former employers have made under new boss Paul Buckle, who has overseen five victories in the last eight matches.

Walker added: “Under the previous manager, we managed to beat them three times out of four. They seem a bit resurgent now, but if we play how we can do, we have got a great chance.”