It was a tale of two halves for the Light Blues as the Hatters fought their way back into the contest in the second half after Rangers raced out to a 4-1 lead in the opening period.
Speaking to RangersTV after the triumph, Smith commented: "I actually enjoyed the two halves, but for different reasons.
"The first half was due to our quality; second half they put us under a little bit of stress.
"The boys managed to see it out in the end, but they did cause us a lot problems in the second half.
"It was probably more so the reaction [which was pleasing] and, again, we showed moments of quality early in the game, but we lost the goal.
"But to react from that and go and score four goals which were all real good quality sums the group up.
"I mentioned the stress in the second half and we showed the character to see out the result in the end."
Due to the Under-16s' ongoing participation in the Alkass International Cup and current Under-17 international break, Rangers fielded a mixed team for the visit of the English outfit.
Findlay Curtis, Paul Nsio and Zander Hutton were all present from their recent first-team involvement, with all three on the scoresheet in a blistering first-half showing this afternoon.
Smith admits the variety within the group was a certain factor in the side's second-half drop-off, but he believes it's all part of his players' development.
He added: "They add real value to the group when they come and play in these games.
"It's the type of goals that I expect us to score in terms of the combinations around the edge of the penalty box.
"You need quality to be able to do that and handle the ball, whether it's taking two or three touches, so all-round good quality goals.
"What changed after half-time? I spoke to the players and a few were getting after each other in the dressing room [at full-time] which I don't mind!
"They changed shape which caused us problems, then they changed their intensity, and our quality dropped slightly.
"I can understand our quality dropping because there are a lot of individual circumstances, whether it's boys not playing in a while due to the first-team or the Under-18s not having a game for a few weeks. I have reasons for it, so I'm not too worried about it.
"It was about digging in at that point in the game.
"They flooded our box with numbers and put numbers against the backline and tested us physically, but the boys handled it in the end in decent fashion.
"We talk about the opposition changing shape and the different personnel, and that's part of what the programme is.
"They are games that we really enjoy taking part in, but they are real tests which we enjoy too."