Gray makes debut but Russians nuke England C

The young Luton forward played the full 90 minutes but found chances limited as he spearheaded their 4-5-1 formation.

Gray, 20, who has netted seven times in 12 games for Luton since joining from Hinckley, tweeted after the game: “Privileged to get my first cap for england tho great experience with great lads loved it.

“Result doesnt reflect our performance at all against players that have played champions league football. 3 sloppy goals but hey its football.

“Greatest week ive had for a while and unforgettable experience met some great lads an seen some unreal places.”

Delkin gave the home side the lead on 27 minutes and Bibilov doubled their advantage three minutes before the break.

There was a second for Delkin 10 minutes into the second half before a penalty from Smolov completed the scoring in the 81st minute.

Manager Paul Fairclough added: “We were under no illusions as to the task we faced.

“We set about our game plan and it worked for 27 minutes. We almost scored and (Jonathan) Hedge did not have a shot to save, but two bad errors undid all our good work.

“I would have been happy going in one down at half time but to go in at 2-0 down meant that we had to change things around and this allowed the Russians to expose us more as the game progressed.

“We were beaten by a quality side and we are now faced with going to Belgium in September knowing that we must win to qualify for the semi-final.”

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