The Town’s final game of pre-season ended in defeat as La Liga side Celta Vigo scored two late goals to secure a 3-1 victory.
With the Championship season just nine days away the Hatters looked set to earn a share of spoils after a positive showing in the second half that saw Alfie Doughty equalise.
However, goals in the final six minutes from the Spanish visitors meant the Town went down in their last friendly of the summer before Burnley come to Kenilworth Road for the start of the real stuff on 12th August.
After a bright start that saw Doughty test goalkeeper Marc Vidal inside the first two minutes, the Hatters had Thomas Kaminski to thank to deny Alfonso González’s low drive from the edge of the box moments later.
As the visitors, who finished 13th in the Spanish top-flight last term, began to seize the initiative, Kaminski swatted Alfon’s goal-bound effort away.
But on the quarter-hour mark the Town were forced into an early change when Teden Mengi took a knock and was replaced in the heart of the defence by Tom Holmes.
Elijah Adebayo came close to giving the Hatters the lead on 23 minutes only for his shot on the turn to be deflected behind bravely by Jailson but having gone close twice in the space of two minutes, the visitors led on 21 minutes.
Mihailo Ristic’s low shot from the edge of the box was blocked by Kaminski but in doing so the ball looped up off the keeper’s foot and into the path of Williot Swedberg who was on hand to nod home from close range.
Ahead, Celta came mighty close to doubling their lead two minutes later when Borja Iglesias tried his distance from 45 yards but with Kaminski beaten the ball drifted just over the crossbar.
Iglesias then shot wide as Vigo turned the screw on 41 minutes but, as the half ended, the Town almost found an equaliser when Shandon Baptiste’s cross from the right was headed wide by Carlton Morris.
After the restart the Town almost fell further behind having been caught cold from kick-off when Jonathan Bamba’s shot came back off the post.
Back came the Hatters. It was almost 1-1 on 54 minutes when Doughty’s left-wing corner was nodded inches wide by Adebayo before a Clark cross from the left three minutes later was nodded over by Morris at the near post.
The Town thought they should have had a penalty when Chiedozie Ogbene went down in the box under pressure from Sergio Carreira but, on 66 minutes, the Hatters were on level terms. Baptiste swung in a deep right-wing cross and Doughty was on hand at the back post to fire first time.
Vigo should have restored their lead straight from the restart when goalscorer Swedberg somehow fluffed his lines when, faced with a simple tap-in, only finding the side-netting.
Doughty then did brilliantly to win a tackle in the box but as the Town pressed for the advantage, Adebayo saw a firm strike from 12 yards blocked.
As the Hatters made a number of changes as time ticked down, Celta restored the advantage with six minutes left when Pablo Duran finished brilliantly from the edge of the box.
And with time evaporating for a Town equaliser, the visitors put the result beyond doubt when Iago Aspas finished a move he begun when diverting a diving header past Kaminski with a minute to spare.
So while Rob Edwards had mixed feelings afterwards, attention now turns to the start of the Championship season a week on Monday.
We’ll see you then.
Town: Kaminski; Ogbene (sub Nelson 75), Doughty, Walters, Mengi (sub Holmes 16), Johnson; Clark (Townsend 83), Chong (sub Woodrow 83), Baptiste (sub Mpanzu 78); Morris (sub Francis-Clark 75), Adebayo (sub Taylor 82).
Subs not used: Shea, Horlick, Luker, Bateson.
Attendance: 6,051, including 141 from Celta Vigo.
