Proud Luton boss Jones has a 'tinge of disappointment' after Town are knocked out by Blues

Luton boss Nathan Jones couldn't help feeling what he described a 'tinge of disappointment' after his side went out of the FA Cup with a fifth round 3-2 defeat against Premier League opponents Chelsea this evening.

A much-changed Town side got off to the best possible start, Reece Burke glancing his header into the net from Luke Berry's corner with just two minutes on the clock to send Kenilworth Road into a state of frenzy.

Town were then hit by an injury to keeper Jed Steer who appeared to suffer a serious Achilles problem, with Harry Isted on for just a third appearance.

He was beaten by on-loan Atletico Madrid midfielder Saul on 27 minutes after Gabe Osho's mistake, before producing wonderful saves from the goalscorer, plus Kenedy and Romelu Lukaku.

Harry Cornick went clean through to make it 2-1 to Luton against the club he supports before the break, but Chelsea's quality eventually showed in the second period, Timo Werner and Lukaku on target in the final 22 minutes to win it.

Although proud of his side's efforts, Jones was left slightly frustrated, saying: "I’m realistically disappointed because I thought we could’ve been a bit braver sometimes in possession, but apart from that we came up against a top, top end Premier League side and we’ve given them a right game, and that’s all you can do really.

“We had ambitions of winning the game and we scored early, brilliant.

"We recovered from giving them the first goal, and score, but then they’re a fantastic side.

"You know they’re going to put you under pressure and you know you’ll have to defend really well, and we didn’t do that for the second goal.

"The third goal is wonderful. I can’t have any qualms with that. It’s top end movement that will cause the Premier League problems.

"I’m disappointed, because I felt after going ahead twice, we could’ve defended situations better, but they’ve given me absolutely everything tonight.

"I’m really proud of the club, really proud of the group of players.

"Look, we’re on a different resources-wise, so let’s be realistic, but there’s a tinge of disappointment with it.

“They’re one of the biggest club in the world, they’re World Club champions, Champions League winners and they’ve had to work hard, very, very hard for their win tonight.

"That's the important thing for us that we tested them, and we wanted to test ourselves and we wanted to test them.

"They have more quality than us, they have more resources than us, but I’m proud of the group, proud of the club, proud of how the supporters responded, because I wanted to give them one of these nights.

"You only get one of these nights when you do something a bit different and tonight, against them, was excellent.”