A young Hatters side will be fortunate to get a second bite of the cherry in the Beds Senior Cup after a floodlight failure put pay to the tie with Biggleswade 5-1 to the good.
Fresh from a 6-1 victory over Spurs, Luton Town fielded their Youth Team against the Waders with six Under 17's starting the game.
On a pitch more suitable for fishing than football, Luton's youngsters were given a harsh reality check.
Failing to deal with Biggleswade's physical advantage cost the Hatters as they struggled to deal with two early set pieces and found themselves 2-0 down.
Luton learnt that they were unable to play their flowing football through the mud, and they fell further behind when Taylor Nathaniel conceded a soft penalty.
Ryan Dasilva was the pick of Luton's players in the first half and he deserved his goal in the 29th minute after good work from Adam Watkins.
The game was effectively over in the 43rd minute when Taylor Nathaniel again conceded a penalty for handball, even though the ball clearly hit his shoulder. The penalty was converted and Nathaniel was given his marching orders.
Down to 10 men, Luton went on the offensive in the second half playing with three strikers, but another set-piece was conceded in the 52nd minute to make the score 5-1.
With the pitch deteriorating rapidly in heavy rain, it was actually floodlight failure that caused the referee to abandon the game.
Youth Team Coach Martin Prickett said: "A lack of desire to do the uglier things that are required to play senior football cost us dearly tonight.
"One of the problems with Academy and Centre of Excellence football is that it doesn't prepare players for the realities of the game.
"The surface required us to be direct, the opposition needed a physical response from our midfielders, and unfortunately we were unable to provide either.
As a group we have to learn tough lessons quickly if we are going to achieve our goals of playing at the highest level. It was men against boys tonight, as we haven't dealt with the physical side of the game."
