Hatters boss Nathan Jones was delighted with his players as they put Yeovil Town to the sword in an 8-2 victory at Kenilworth Road.
The visitors took the lead early on through Otis Khan’s well taken free-kick, before the Hatters responded with five in the space of 26 minutes – as Olly Lee, James Collins, Alan McCormack all got one each, whilst Isaac Vassell got a brace.
After the restart, Collins completed his hat-trick with two well taken goals, with the visitors then responding through Francois Zoko, as he headed in from close range.
Substitute Elliot Lee finished off the scoring in the ninth minute of added time, heading in from his brother’s left-wing cross.
Jones said: “It probably could have gone better! We went a goal behind when we shouldn’t have. We had a number of chances before they scored on six minutes, so we did come out of the blocks. I am delighted, if somebody had offered me that result any day of the year you would take that.
“I said to the players there are always some funny results on the opening day and I didn’t want us to be one of them in terms of being on the wrong end of one. But we showed a clinical edge in terms of our finishing when we got opportunities, that’s the main thing I am delighted with.”
Keeper Marek Stech made his competitive debut for the Hatters and impressed, denying Zoko with a fantastic reflex save in the second 45 minutes, having made a penalty save in the first half. He then received lengthy treatment on the pitch after a clash of heads, which resulted in the stopper requiring stitches in his lip.
“I thought he showed excellent concentration right throughout,” Jones continued. “I thought he was flawless in everything he did.
“We were fearful because we made a change that might have cost us right before the corner – they might have nicked a goal or anything. But he showed real concentration and why he’s a top keeper for this level. And he is – he’s an excellent keeper.”
The Lee brothers being on the pitch marked the first time the Town have had siblings playing in a competitive match since Brian and Mark Stein in the Littlewoods Cup victory of 1988.
Jones wants his side to concentrate on the here and now though, as he was thoroughly impressed by the two current Town players combining for the final goal.
He explained: “I want to make the right kind of history. I am not worried about that kind of stuff. What I am worried about is we win enough games to get promoted, that’s all.
“Credit to Paul Hart, I was content to keep it how it was late on, but we knew it was the last kick of the game, so we thought we would put it in and see if we could get another one and we did.
“Without being too blasé, we knew it was the end of the game, we knew they couldn’t score and we thought we would take our chances. We got it and we are pleased.”