The Hatters started well with a raucous home crowd behind them and had a number of good opportunities to open the scoring throughout the 90 minutes.

However, his side were made to settle for a draw on the opening day which the Welshman was forced to accept in his post-match interview.

“We always want to win the game especially at home, but it was a hard-fought game, I thought we had the better of the chances and I couldn’t ask for more from the game.

"We tried right until the end, we were lacking a little bit of sharpness which is understandable because we had two weeks less than everyone, and had a five-week pre-season so a little bit of sharpness was lacking.

“We’ve had a real disjointed pre-season so that can sometimes catch up with you. They gave me everything, I thought we created enough to win the game, we must have had at least 12 set plays, but we just couldn’t find the opening. If we found the opening then it’s a different game but in terms of endeavour, I can’t ask any more of them. Bedding in a few new players, who I thought were really effective today."

One of three new starters was midfielder Luke Freeman who impressed the gaffer: “He started the game really well. We thought we’d only play him for 60 minutes because he’s missed a bit of pre-season but I was really happy with the levels and how we went about our work.

“Ironically, we didn’t take a point off these last year, so if we get the points from everyone else we did, we will be in a better position.”