Hatters youngsters defeat PSV Eindhoven and Borussia Dortmund on their way to final four

The players, who are part of Town’s academy, travelled out to Dortmund for the prestigious tournament, playing teams such as Hamburger SV, Werder Bremen and Rapid Vienna.

Last year, Luton narrowly missed out on the quarter-finals so the aim was to go further this time.

In the group stage, Luton managed three wins and two defeats as they beat SpVGG Wallstadt (5-2), FC Moenchengladbach (5-3) and JSG Palz Hellweg (6-0), with losses against Werder Bremen (3-2) and Hannover 96 (3-0).

That saw Hatters finish in third and move through to the gold round of the tournament.

There, Luton won three and lost two once more, as they defeated SC Mechelen (4-1), Borussia Dortmund (2-1) and PSV Eindhoven (2-1), while going down to Hamburger SV (4-3) and Schalke 04 (2-1).

Despite narrow losses to both Hamburger SV and Schalke 04, the youngsters progressed in second place on goal difference finishing level on nine points with Hamburger SV from the Bundesliga.

In the quarter-final, Luton were pitted against Hannover 96 who they had lost to 3-0 in group stage one.

Luton learnt their lessons from that defeat though and triumphed 3-0 with the best performance of the tournament.

That saw the Hatters reach the final four, where they came up against Armenia Bielefeld, narrowly losing 3-2 after hitting the post and the bar in the last minute.

Youth Development Phase Lead Coach Jordan McCann said: “Once the tears had subsided the boys can look back on the tournament and be extremely proud of what they achieved against some of the biggest clubs in Europe, finishing ahead of the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Juventus and PSV Eindhoven.

“The boys have represented the club in a glowing light and are a fine example of the academy moving from strength to strength in terms of the quality of young players it has.

“They will now look forward to meeting some of the same teams again out on the grass when we return to Germany in the summer.

Squad, pictured above, top left to right: Darcy Moffat, Pele McDermott, Jack Bateson, Charlie Mallett, Anthony Carr.

Bottom left to right: Harvey Heeps, Evan Tweed, Logan Flecknall, Rio Bedingfield, Jake Burger.