The Town's Under-18s were involved in a highly entertaining game of football on Saturday morning against a good Brighton and Hove Albion side and came away with a very creditable 1-1 draw.

The game was dominated by the Seagulls in the opening exchanges as their diamond shape in midfield caused Hatters' central three a problem with good movement and slick passing, although for all their possession they failed to create any clear cut chances.

Anything that was created was snuffed out by centre back Fabio Bufano and goalkeeper Aaron Fletcher who both had outstanding performances throughout the game.

As the half progressed Town began to move the ball well and dominate possession, a clever through ball from Richard Owusu was latched onto by Jordan Patrick, but the ball wouldn't come down for him and he failed to get a shot away, soon after this another half chance fell Patrick's way and this time the ball went narrowly wide.

The half ended 0-0 despite both teams having good spells of possession.

After a tactical shuffle at half-time, the Hatters came out and pressed their opponents and the game began to open up, Ash Deeney was a constant threat down the right hand side and deliver dangerous crosses that Brighton continually had to scramble away.

As Luton pressed, gaps began to open in their defence as Brighton became more and more direct, once again Fletcher and Bufano contrived to keep Albion out.

The deadlock was finally broken with eight minutes to play. As Town began to get in the ascendancy and pinned Brighton into their own half, the ball was moved quickly across midfield and Sam Barker slid the ball to Matt Harriott who fired home from 25 yards.

However, the lead was short lived. Albion broke quickly down the left and the pulled back cross was fired home from close range to bring the scores level.

Town almost won the game when Matt James' cross-come-shot floated over the Albion goalkeeper's head only for it to smack squarely on the crossbar and bounce away to safety.

Youth team Manager Martin Prickett said afterwards: "After the drubbing we had from Peterborough last week it was good to come back out and put in a performance.

"It was nice to play against another team who try to pass the ball as it kept the game very open and enjoyable to watch.

"A draw was a fair result, although leading with eight minutes to go you would hope that we could see the game out and I'm sure that had we managed to keep Brighton out for a couple of moments longer we would have been to close out to get a win.

It was great that Fabio Bufano and Aaron Fletcher had stand-out performances today.

"For Fabio it was his first full 90 minutes since coming back from his knee reconstruction and we put him alongside a trialist, so not only did he have to look after his own performance he had to worry about a new player alongside him as well.

"Fletch has had a series of niggling injuries so for him to be so solid and secure is a real boost for his confidence.

"I also thought Matt Harriott had an effective game in midfield and the goal was well deserved from the work he put in today.

"It is frustrating as the schedule has us down for a couple of weeks without a game now, it would have been nice to build on this result and kick on again, although with the number of reserve team games coming up I'm sure the boys will still get plenty of action."

Squad:

Fletcher, James, Bullock, Bufano, Carney, Owusu, Barker, Harriott, Deeney, Patrick, Toomey, Dasilva, Tavernier, Yamfam, Ann, Lacey