Aaron Jarvis opened the scoring just five minutes in with a lovely volley after a brilliant move from the hosts, before the Hatters went onto dominate the affair, creating 25 chances. They finally got their second 80 minutes in, when Jorge Grant's strike deflected past Jason Steele – the stopper putting in a spirited display to keep the Hatters at bay for so long.

The Seagulls got a consolation goal with four minutes of normal time to play when Aaron Connolly headed in Alex Cochrane's cross, but the Town held out for the win.

Jones said: "I thought we were excellent from start to finish. I though our attitude, our intensity, the way we moved the ball, the chances we created, I thought we were excellent. Barring a Premier League goalkeeping display, it would have been a lot more comfortable.

"It turned into a good game – it had a bit of everything really. We had everything we needed in terms of a run out, a physical run out and then at the end we had to defend our box which we didn't have to do for much during the 93 minutes, but at the end we did. So it had a little bit of everything and we're delighted with the win.

"The first goal was a real good move, we came out of the blocks really quickly, which we wanted to do, because these won't be used to the intensity that we play at and I don't mean that disrespectfully, it's just there's differences between the leagues in terms of intensity wise.

"We came out of the blocks and we really came on to them and then the goal was wonderful, a great move, a great run and then the ball in, a sweet volley. It needed something brilliant or lucky to beat the keeper, because quite frankly, he was outstanding."