Hatters chief didn't get the performance he wanted during Luton's defeat to Goztepe

Luton boss Rob Edwards admitted he hadn’t got the performance he was after from his players during their 3-2 pre-season friendly defeat against Turkish Super Lig side Goztepe yesterday afternoon.

Having beaten FC Rukh Lviv 1-0 on Tuesday, Town went into the game in Slovenia looking to finish off their training camp on a high. However, those hopes were given a huge jolt in after a first half in which they fell 2-0 behind due to some poor defending, the opening goal arriving on 25 minutes when centre half Tom Holmes had his pocket picked allowing a Goztepe forward to go one on one with James Shea and find the net.

The second then followed just three minutes later after Town’s defence were caught out by a simple long ball forward, with their opposition adding a third shortly after the break, yet another Goztepe attacker left unmarked to comfortably fire past Shea. They could have been further ahead only for Shea to make a good stop and have the woodwork come to his rescue, before academy graduate Zack Nelson came off the bench to score in the 72nd and 89th minutes to give Luton a lifeline.

The teenager should really have completed his hat-trick in stoppage time, denied by a point blank save from close range, as despite the rousing finale, Edwards couldn’t shake off his feeling of disappointment, saying: “It’s frustrating to lose the game. We were looking for a few things, we were looking for a number of people to get 90 minutes which we ticked off, for a few people to push and get more minutes which we ticked off, no injuries, which I believe we got, to look after one or two, but I wanted a performance and we didn’t really get the performance, probably until a little bit later on

"I was pleased with one of two of the kids and the impact that they made, but I just thought we lacked any sort of real forward thrust. We were not what I want us to be, we played too passively in the first half, we made three big errors for their goals, and we’ve got to make sure that we cut that out. If we’re going to make them, now is the time to make them and learn from them and get better, but a mixed day. Minutes, not having any more injuries is really important for us, but performance-wise it left a little bit out there today.”

One bright note was summer signings Shandon Baptiste and Reuell Walters finally getting their first run-outs for the side, as they both had the opening 45 minutes before being replaced at the break in a pre-planned substitution. Edwards added: “I’m really pleased. I was never going to judge them today off their first minutes. They’ve been in now for not that long, a few days of training, 45 minutes was the most important thing for them to get a feel for what we are, what we do. So overall really pleased with them and they're only get to get better.”

Hatters: James Shea, Chiedozie Ogbene, Reuell Walters (Aidan Francis-Clarke 46), Tom Holmes (Jack Bateson 63), Joe Johnson (John McAtee 60), Alfie Doughty, Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu (Zack Nelson 63), Shandon Baptiste (Jordan Clark 46), Tahith Chong (Jayden Luker 85), Elijah Adebayo (Joe Taylor 63), Cauley Woodrow (Andros Townsend 46). Sub not used: Jameson Horlick.