IN A week where Accrington Stanley announced a new sponsorship deal with a manufacturer and retailer of plastic containers, a box of a different kind was the focal point of the opening game of the new season.

Leading 1-0 and with two minutes left to see out, the Reds failed to defend a Scott Cuthbert long throw into their box and Jonathan Smith deflected Craig Mackail-Smith’s effort into the net to allow Luton to seal a point.

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The final exchanges soured an encouraging performance from John Coleman’s new-look team, who made the fancied Hatters looked distinctly ordinary at the newly named Wham Stadium.

There were only five Stanley survivors from the win over Mansfield on the final day of 2014/15, with keeper Jason Mooney and defenders Matty Pearson and Tom Davies making their debuts.

The home team started well, with visiting keeper Elliot Justham forced into early action to grasp a Josh Windass cross before new boy Davies headed a corner wide.

Luton’s big name trio of Mackail-Smith, Josh McQuiod and Paddy McCourt were largely anonymous, with only the former causing alarm with a long range effort that flew wide.

Both goalkeepers had one meaningful save to make, with Mooney denying Smith after Justham had kept out a strike from Stanley skipper Terry Gornell.

Mostly, the first period was about near misses, with Matt Crooks heading off target before Luton’s Nathan Doyle fizzed a shot wide.

The second 45 minutes were a different matter as Coleman’s men came to the fore.

Returning winger Sean McConville was in the thick of the action, vainly throwing himself at a Piero Mingoia cross before trying to feed Windass and then smashing a shot over the bar.

John Still’s visitors were on the back foot and save for a penalty appeal turned down offered little before the Reds took the lead with a spot kick of their own.

It was all the work of Windass: the number eight burst down the left and into the box, steaming past Smith at the byline and forcing the midfielder to go to ground, not win the ball and bring him down. Penalty. The former Huddersfield man picked himself up and drilled an unstoppable kick into the left corner to make it 1-0.

Still threw on attackers to try to level things up but still Stanley threatened, with substitute Billy Kee half volleying just wide before Justham spilled an Anthony Barry effort and then held onto a shot from Mingoia.

But just when it seemed Stanley had the points in the bag in the 92nd minute, their defence cracked. Smith knew little about his goal as the ball flicked off him and beyond Mooney, and though the ball appeared to hit his arm, referee Geoff Eltringham was unmoved by Stanley appeals.

The visitors could then have won it in the remaining minutes with sub Paul Benson thwarted inside the penalty area and Pelly Ruddock curling wide.

It may have felt like a defeat but if the Reds can build on the positives of their performance they may make a mockery of predictions of a season of struggle.