Still hopes Hatters have learned for Villa’s ‘pass and move’ football

The Villains enjoyed plenty of possession as Town’s gameplan of playing on the counter proved fruitful on the night.

“We tried to win the ball deep and counter-attack because you’ve got to in games like this,” said Still.

“Everything today was good, but as I said it’s only pre-season. I can’t ask for more than we got.”

And he continued: “Their passing and moving was fantastic and that’s a good education for us.

“We’ve played very well, I’m very, very pleased, but it’s pre-season and it’s another step. As pleased as I am I’m not carried away with it. It was good, it was all right, but I’m mindful of the fact there’s going to be some ups and downs along the way.

“Today was a little bit of an up, but will have learnt a little bit as well from their passing and moving.

“Hopefully when we get a bit more of the ball we can pass and move as well as them because that’s what I want to do.”

Villa’s cultured brand of football proved a real test for Luton’s defence, which stuck to its task well.

Experienced defender Steve McNulty said: “It was a good game and we were always going to be up against it and not have too much of the ball because obviously they are Premier League players and they’re talented and a lot quicker, a lot sharper.

“They’re clever and they take up positions you don’t really want to go into. It’s always nice to get man of the match and I’m well happy with getting 90 minutes under my belt.

“The team are looking good, they’re looking organised and all in all it was a good night.”

Villa named star striker Christian Benteke in their starting XI and McNulty was modest about how well he coped.

“It’s always good experience to play against these types of player, it’s always going to stand you in good stead, but he’s only been back training for a week,” he said.

“So on top of his game I don’t think anyone can live with him, no-one in the Premier League can live with him, so it was nice to play up against him and try yourself against him.

“He’s pulling you into positions you don’t want to go into and you’re not used to going into because his movement is so clever. But all-in-all it was a good test.”

A clean sheet was a welcome boost for the Hatters, but McNulty felt that it was a real team effort.

He continued: “They worked hard from the front. We had a gameplan and we want to press and get the ball back but they’re quality players and couldn’t do that at times, we had to sit in and two banks of four and Shawy (Jon Shaw) and (Mark) Cullen had to drop in as well

“And when we were seeing our chance we had to try and take the ball back but all in all you can’t just point your finger at the back four and the goalkeeper, it’s been a good team performance and they’ve defended from the front today.

“It’s all well and good winning every game in pre-season, and no matter where you go, I said to them before the game, you’ve got to show them the respect they deserve.

“But you can’t show them too much respect, at the end of the day this is our home ground and we need to turn this into a fortress.”

Wales U21 Jake Howells had to look on from the sidelines in the first half before scoring Town’s second goal in the second half and was surprised how well Luton coped.

He said: “The boys were different class today, I mean everyone’s organisation, everyone’s worked so hard and we got our just rewards.

“We got the lead 1-0, and then I got the 2-0 and I thought we deserved it, everyone knew what they were doing, everyone was talking, we just looked together as a team.

“It’s hard to break down teams like that as you saw today, that was two XIs they put on there and they’re Premier League opposition so I think that proves to everyone we’ve come together this season and it looks well for the season.”

And Howells believes the game will have acted as a valuable learning curve for the Hatters.

“Going into the game you know it’s not going to be easy against a Premier League team but you’ve just got to take stuff from it,” he said.

“We took a lot of experience from today’s game against very good players out there. Benteke, obviously, Delph they’re Premier League players and they play week in, week out.

“So we just take the experience and we learned a lot out there. We got the result, which doesn’t really matter at the end of the day, but we got what we need out of it.

Town had their moments in the game though with Jon Shaw giving them the lead in the first half and Howells doubling their advantage in the second as Town crafted the betters chances.

Still enthused about the goals and the performance, saying: “Delighted with the finish for the two goals, very good, delighted with my back four, I thought were immense, I thought they were terrific.

“The two midfield players in front of them worked their socks off and when you think they brought the cavalry on with a half hour to go we’ve played against some quality players, millions of pounds worth of players, and even if they had scored a couple of goals and we hadn’t I would still have said that’s a great exercise for us.”

But he admitted many of his players were probably dead on their feet after the final whistle, adding: “I would probably say if you looked at my XI, probably the XI that started and have played 70 minutes, they probably need to go and lay down now because they’ve had to really work hard to stay in the game.”