The Hatters, who were much changed from the 2-1 victory against Bristol City prior to the New Year, produced a gritty performance and were victorious courtesy of George Moncur’s first-half strike.

But the gaffer did insist that his team could have made it easier for themselves despite putting themselves in the hat for the draw on Monday evening.

“I think we made it hard for ourselves,” Nathan admitted after the match. “First half I thought we were excellent, we had so many opportunities and situations where we should have extended the lead.

"We scored a good goal, and then what we said at half-time is ‘win the first ten minutes’, we like to come out of the traps and win that first ten, and we didn’t.

“We played into their hands, played with a slow tempo, gave the ball away five times in the first eight minutes which allowed them to play in our half and we never really grasped the momentum back.

“That was the thing, but I’m delighted we kept a clean-sheet, made pretty much ten changes. We kept Sluga in because he hasn’t had football lately, so it was a good game all in all.”