Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth reacts to their 3-0 defeat to Luton Town in the Carabao Cup first round

Gillingham boss Gareth Ainsworth felt his team were too “easy” to score against in their first competitive game of the season.

The Gills were knocked out of the Carabao Cup in the first round by a classy Luton side at Priestfield on Saturday.

The visitors looked every bit a promotion contender in the league above but Ainsworth still felt his team could have offered more.

“We were okay but not at full tilt and I felt there was a little bit of pre-season still about us,” said Ainsworth.

“I'm glad it's happened today in the Carabao Cup because I think Luton are a super team. They'll beat most teams in both bottom leagues and I think they'll be in the Championship come the 2027/28 season. I really do believe that.

“They had pace in their team, their subs who came on strengthened them, if anything. We just were a little bit easy to score against and I just didn't want that.

“We had to be more resilient, more tenacious, win every header, win every tackle, win everything.

“There were some decent performances in there, some real eye-openers and we had a few senior debuts as well, Logan Dobbs, Zane Albarus, Conor McManus, which is big for them,

“I’m not too down but I’ll be going through the video making sure that we're not too easy to score against. The second goal, a quick free-kick, you've got to stop that, and the corner as well.”

Gillingham only had a couple of attempts on target over the 90 minutes but Ainsworth knew that chances would be limited.

“We didn't create brilliantly against them,” added the Gills boss. “But I knew chances would be few and far between because they're such a good side.

“We probably had one of the toughest ties in the first round.”

There were glimpses of what Ainsworth has been working on with his