The Hatters put up an excellent performance but were beaten by a solitary Arsenal goal in the U17 AFCA Cup at The Brache on Tuesday afternoon.

Joe Deeney’s youngsters, who had been beaten 2-1 by Tottenham Hotpsur in their opening game of the Arsenal FC Academy tournament last month, started the game brightly and had an opening inside the first minute, with Harry Fox meeting Lloyd Asamoah Jnr’s right-wing cross with a header that the Gunners’ keeper did well to keep out.

Town played on the front foot for much of the first quarter, restricting the Category 1 visitors to very little at the back while always looking a threat, especially in wide areas, with just the final ball of end product to convert lacking.

Arsenal had a good chance to open the scoring when goalkeeper Charlie Booth parried a free-kick just after the half-hour mark, but the Gunners’ forward put the loose ball over from close range, then Booth pulled off a great save on the stroke of half-time to keep the score goalless.

The second half was played mainly between both boxes, without any real clear-cut chances for either side.

But in the 56th minute Arsenal scored what turned out to be the only goal of the game, with their right winger getting to the byline and fizzing in a low cross that took a wicked deflection off a Town defender and trickled into the net.

Reflecting on the game, Deeney said: “It was a real gut punch for the players because of all their hard work, you’ve then got to change slightly in terms of your game plan.

“But fair play to the lads, they were excellent, we were front-footed, and for large periods of the final third of the game it was attack v defence, we had them locked in.

“We had 17 corners in the whole game. I think there was five in a row in the last minute, we had Charlie Booth up and you have to give Arsenal credit, the way they defended their box for set pieces was admirable. We just kept going and going, we put them under real pressure.

“We had loads of balls into their box, but due to some really good defending, really good blocks, sadly we couldn’t find the equaliser.

“Fair credit to the lads, I was really pleased with the attitude and the performance. Shape wise without the ball was very disciplined and very good, we looked a threat, especially on transitions.

“We just lacked a bit of quality in the final moments, but we kept going right to the death and that’s all you can ever ask for, so loads of good positive lessons learned.

“Arsenal are a top Cat 1 team, they’ve got good players, and we more than matched them, which was really good on the day.

“I’m very proud of our lads, but just unfortunately came out on the wrong side of a 1-0 defeat which I hope will hold us in good stead for the remainder of the season, because that’s two really positive performances now against two of the top clubs in the country in Tottenham and now Arsenal.”