Nathan Jones hails Luton approach in win at Cambridge

Posted Sunday, February 06, 2022 by PA

Nathan Jones praised his Luton side’s approach to their comfortable FA Cup win at Cambridge.

Reece Burke headed the Championship side ahead, before Carlos Mendes Gomes’ first goal for the club gave Luton a commanding lead with only 22 minutes played.

Looking to add to their giant-killing at Newcastle in round three, Cambridge made a game of it in the closing stages but only really created two major chances before Admiral Muskwe sealed the result with a deflected effort three minutes from the end.

“It’s a tough place to come, the wind was swirling, there was a cup upset on the cards but I thought we were very professional,” said Jones.

“Cambridge are a good side, they’ve done really well, Bonz (Mark Bonner) has done a great job here, and therefore we were really professional. We had opportunities and we took them. If we showed a little bit more quality I think we could have had more; we had a couple of opportunities to extend that.

“To win 3-0, come here and keep a clean sheet, make eight changes, we’ve come through it. I was able to give a lot of people game time and a lot of people a rest. They’ve shown that they can cope.

“It was a tough draw, coming to Cambridge. I made sure we weren’t a tippy-tappy Championship side. We were thoroughly professional, we defended our box very well and I think we deserved to win.

“You’ve seen West Ham today go to a National League side and really struggle. I think ours was slightly more comfortable. I’m very pleased because it was a tough game.”

Mark Bonner regretted the goals Cambridge conceded without being too downbeat about the U’s performance.

“We didn’t quite have enough to get through,” Bonner reflected. “I think the scoreline’s harsh on us. I don’t think they’ve created a massive amount of chances, but we don’t actually think they’ve had to work too hard for the goals that they’ve scored.

“We’re disappointed with those, and the first one comes off the back of a brilliant start to the game for us.

“We had a very good chance at 2-0 to get ourselves back in the game and create a really lively last 20 minutes and don’t take that, and then the third goal just kills the last five minutes from being a little bit of an Alamo sort of situation.

“We just didn’t have enough to make any moments go in our favour, partly because we’ve got to do better in those situations and partly down to their defending. So it’s a disappointing result really, but back to business, 17 games to go in the league.”