Hayrettin impressed with Town’s youth set-up after Biggleswade win

A number of Town’s U18 squad featured on the night, with striker Zane Banton notching the equaliser with virtually his first touch after coming off the bench, while goalkeeper Ben Barnes saved two penalties.

Hayrettin said: “I was very pleased to see Zane come on as he got the ball, turned, went for goal straight away, he did very well.

“The centre-back (Zac Stephens) came on and did well and I’m happy for the kid (Barnes) as I spent the week with him in Portugal.

“It was pleasing we’ve had a look at some of the youngsters coming through the youth development squad as there are a lot of encouraging signs there.”

On the game itself, Hayrettin felt Luton were deserving winners, despite fielding a side that hadn’t ever played together and contained three trialists.

He added: “It’s very difficult because you go straight into the melting pot and you don’t know what you’re going to get.

“We’re playing against a senior team who are going to be physical, so it was very pleasing that we were very professional and disciplined in our approach and application to play the game.

“They gave us a bit of rough time in the first 20 minutes. We emphasised to the players that we’re Luton Town, we’re a professional outfit and we’ve got to act profesionally and we did that.

“I think the second half, our quality came through. They paid us the respect I think we deserve by making changes after 20 minutes as we passed the ball around.

“But Luton Town deserved to win the game overall, the boys did fantastically well second half.

“I thought they showed a lot of spirit, a lot of desire and did it in the right way.

“I think we could have won the game by five, we hit the post twice and their keeper pulled off some great saves.”

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