Gillingham 0 Luton Town 3 match report: Carabao Cup first round settled by goals from Nahki Wells, Benedict Benagr and Gideon Kodua

Gillingham started their competitive season with a home defeat in the Carabao Cup on Saturday.

League 1 promotion-chaser Luton proved a class apart for Gareth Ainsworth’s men as they dominated the first-round tie from start to finish at Priestfield.

It looked a tough task for the Gills on paper, and so it proved as Jack Wilshere’s Luton were a well-polished machine that never gave the home side an opening.

There were five debutants for Gillingham but one man who missed out was Liam Gordon, who has a one-match suspension carried over from his time in Scotland at the end of last season.

Much of the talk centred on who would feature in goal, but there was little surprise when a loan keeper was announced just over an hour before kick-off. Owen Mason joined from Mansfield, having previously had loan spells with Southend and Gateshead, with back-up Taite Holtam on the bench.

Mason was involved in the action from the start, saving low down from Jake Richards as early as the second minute.

It needed good defensive work from Andy Smith to cover across and deny Nahki Wells after he got behind skipper Omar Beckles.

Luton had the ball in the net after seven minutes through captain Kai Naismith but Wells’ obvious foul on Mason had already been spotted by referee Stephen Parkinson.

Luton were in danger of overpowering the Gills, who looked susceptible to the ball over the top. Jordan Clark’s 20-yard shot was saved by Mason, who then produced an even better one-handed save to turn aside Clark’s right-foot effort moments later.

At the other end, striker Seb Palmer-Houlden carried the ball forward but his long-range shot was blocked. New signing James Brophy looked lively but lacked support around him and the Gills were often guilty of