Smith holds his hands up over ‘sloppy’ challenge

The 28-year-old made a reckless challenge on midfielder Josh Windass in the area, leaving referee Geoff Eltringham with little option but point to the spot.

Windass had little trouble in beating Elliot Justham with the resulting penalty as Smith said: “I definitely shouldn’t have made the challenge, it was sloppy from me, I should know better.

“In a midfield area, I’d go for that, but the in area you shouldn’t do it, and I’ll learn from it that’s for sure.

“It was a bit of a roller coaster for the first game of the season, we needed to get something out of the game, but personally I’m disappointed I let the team down for the first goal, as I but should know better than to dive in there.”

After the error, Nathan Doyle was one of the first over to gee up his team-mate, something Smith appreciated, although he admitted he had already turned his thoughts to helping Luton find a way back into the game.

He continued: “Doyley, Macca (Steve McNulty) all rallied round me. Doyle’s a perfect person to play with for me, because we get on on and off the pitch and straight away he’s saying Smudge keep going and that’s superb for me.

“A few years ago it might have affected me, but I’ve worked hard on the mental side of the game, straight away it had gone out my head.

“A few of the lads were saying forget about it and I already had. It’s all about putting it out of your mind, if you let it dwell on you, then you might as well come off, the gaffer might as well take me off.

“I was disappointed in myself, but I tried to put it out of my mind and give 100 per cent for the team and try and get something back.”

In the end, it was Smith who rescued a point for the Hatters in injury time, deflecting Craig Mackail-Smith’s volley past Jason Mooney, although he revealed he knew little or nothing about it.

He added: “It was just a bit of luck. It hit me to be fair and knowing my luck, it would have hit me and gone over the bar. I’m just relieved that it went in.

“I’m not fussed who scores, I’m not here to be taking the glory, I’m just here to get results. My job isn’t to be scoring loads of goals, my job is to do better for the first goal.”