They will always have Newcastle. Cambridge’s heroes of the third round could not extend their FA Cup run. They were thoroughly outmuscled by a Luton team expert in punishing their opponents’ mistakes.
First-half goals from Reece Burke and Carlos Mendes Gomes, and a late strike from the impressive Admiral Muskwe, were enough to guide Luton through to the fifth round for the first time in nine years.
Despite making eight changes, Nathan Jones’s team still looked battle-hardened by the Championship, where they are mounting a serious play-off challenge. They were rocked in the early stages only to kill off the home team’s momentum with Burke’s 17th-minute header and Mendes Gomes’s first goal for the club six minutes later.
“It was a tough draw coming to Cambridge,” said Jones, relieved by pain-free progress that allowed him to rest players for a promotion push. “The pitch was lively, the wind was all over the place. I made sure that we weren’t a tippy-tappy Championship side that got sucker-punched. I thought we were very professional.”
The Cambridge manager, Mark Bonner, made an almost gladiatorial entrance before the match as he walked around the field whipping up the home fans. Cambridge and Luton were reheating a rivalry going back to darker days when both clubs dropped into non-league football. He and Jones are close friends who share a Christian faith but that was set aside in a contest of crunching challenges where Luton’s physical prowess eventually told.
“We didn’t quite have enough to get through,” said Bonner. “I think the scoreline is harsh on us. But they didn’t have to work too hard for the goals they scored.” This was Cambridge’s biggest home tie since they hosted Manchester United seven years ago at the same stage of the competition. This Cup run was similarly successful in capturing local imaginations, producing a fourth sell-out of the season.
There was no Joe Ironside, with Cambridge’s goalscoring hero at St James’ Park absent with an ankle injury. Jack Iredale, outstanding in defence that day, was another of six first-team players missing. “Goodness, those players would make a difference to a lot of teams and they are pivotal for us,” said Bonner. Wes Hoolahan, 40 in May, played as an old-style schemer, the former Ireland international a throwback in dropping down the divisions for the love of the game, and his touch was a cut above in those early moments when Cambridge’s speed and passing game had Luton worried.
“We had a brilliant start to the game,” said Bonner, but Burke’s goal came immediately after some Hoolahan wizardry had created a chance for James Brophy. The former Tottenham youngster Elliot Thorpe made quite a mark on his senior debut with a blistering free-kick from the right. Burke, once of West Ham, climbed highest to nod into the bottom left corner.
The home fans’ mood soon darkened further. Gomes was assisted by another Premier League veteran in Cameron Jerome, and his high-stepping celebration did not go down at all well.
Cambridge’s desire to play from the back was admirable but also the source of much of Luton’s threat, with Peter Kioso and Fred Onyedinma charging up the pitch from wing-back and Muskwe causing huge problems driving forward from an unfamiliar midfield role.
Sam Smith missed Cambridge’s best chance when shanking wide on the hour before Luton’s defence reconfigured into a back five rather than three amid some heavier pressure. “They are hard to create chances against,” Bonner admitted. Hoolahan completed the 90, clearly tired, but was still able to set up a late move from which the substitute Ben Worman tested Jed Steer, on loan from Aston Villa and another making his Luton debut.
Such Cambridge pressure equalled extra space. Muskwe completed the job, extinguishing the romance with a deflected finish. Cambridge return to normal life mid-table in League One but at least with memories to cherish.
