McManaman believes Forest defeat shows the respect Town are being afforded at home
The visitors were content to sit in during the clash, using the pace and nous of Joe Lolley, Sammy Ameobi and Lewis Grabban on the break in order to beat the Hatters.
It worked perfectly too as despite having just 30 per cent of the overall possession, Sabri Lamouchi's side always looked the more dangerous team up until the final five minutes when Town tried to mount a comeback.
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Hide AdMcManaman arrived off the bench to pull one back, although it proved to be a consolation and when discussing the Reds' tactics, he said: "They came with a gameplan, got behind the ball, counter-attacked well, the goals are soft, but I don’t think we were at it, I don’t think we were as good as we can be.
“They’ve got a lot of bodies behind the ball and they’ve basically said, 'come on, break us down.'
"They frustrated us, time-wasted and as soon as they’ve got the goal, we’ve got it all to do as they’ve got 11 men behind the ball.
"They defended well, they were letting it go wide and just packing the midfield, it was a tough game.
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Hide Ad“It shows teams are giving us a bit of respect because at home we get after teams and we can score goals.
"Obviously conceding the two goals has killed us and then they’ve played the game well, took their time and basically killed the game."
Luton did have two goals disallowed during the game, one contentious, with Dan Potts appearing to be onside, but James Collins' effort was rightly ruled out according to McManaman.
He continued: "I didn't speak to Dan, so I wasn't sure about his one, but we do create chances and we do get after teams.
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Hide Ad"I think Collo’s one was offside. I’ve seen that at the time as I was in line with it, so there wasn’t much complaints for that one.
"Conceding the two goals killed us though, the lads are all disappointed, as we can’t be giving away those goals at this level."