STANLEY boss John Coleman felt his side were unfortunate to be on the wrong end of a 4-1 scoreline at Luton Town on Tuesday night.

A Danny Hylton treble led the Hatters to the three points but Coleman felt the Luton striker was fortunate to be on the pitch after a half time incident where the hat-trick man raised his arms at Stanley defender Nick Anderton.

“He was possibly a bit fortunate to stay on the pitch after trying to poke our lad in the eye at half time which started the melee,” said Coleman.

“He put his arm in the face of Nick Anderton and then put his fingers in his eye which is silly and that sparked the melee. They came out in the second half and maybe took advantage of the disruption.”

The Reds had gone into the break level but two goals early in the second half, brought about by poor Stanley defending, took the game away from the visitors before Hylton made it four.

The visitors had chances of their own with Sean McConville and Jordan Clark denied while Offrande Zanzala, scorer in the first half, hit the bar.

And Coleman was left to reflect on what might have been.

“It was a cracking game of football,” he added. “I think 4-1 didn’t do the game justice and I don’t think it reflected the chances created. Their keeper has made four good saves and our keeper has made one good save.

“It was a great game, two good sides having a go and passing the ball and making chances. Fortunately for Luton they took their chances, they were clinical, more clinical than us.

“We gifted them the second and third goal by losing possession in dangerous areas but they had to take advantage of it and they did.”

He added: “We have been playing well this season, as Luton have, I thought it was a great game and I love coming here.

“I shook hands with all their players after the game and there is no animosity, it is good keen rivalry. They have celebrated winning like we celebrated winning here last year so we have no issues with that.”