U's boss frustrated with his side's defending in 'harsh' FA Cup defeat to Luton

Cambridge United boss Mark Bonner was disappointed by the ease in which his side were knocked out of the FA Cup by Luton on Saturday, the Hatters enjoying a 3-0 win.

Following a sensational triumph at Premier League side Newcastle United in the last round, hopes were high that the U’s could enjoy another upset, but despite a lively opening 10 minutes when it looked a possibility, those dreams soon fizzled out.

First, Reece Burke headed home Elliot Thorpe’s free kick on 14 minutes and then Carlos Mendes Gomes rifled past keeper Dimitar Mitov after good work from Cameron Jerome shortly afterwards to suck the wind out of both the hosts' players and supporters.

They never really threatened a comeback after the break either, Sam Smith dragging their best chance wide, before Ben Worman was denied a good diving save by Town keeper Jed Steer.

Admiral Muskwe added a third late on, as Bonner told Cambridgeshire Live: “I don’t think they’ve created a mass amount of chances, and we don’t actually think that they’ve had to work too hard for the goals that they’ve scored. We’re disappointed with those.

“The first one comes off the back of a brilliant start to the game for us.

“I think they are top scorers for set-plays in the Championship so we knew we were going to be under pressure in those situations, but we probably didn’t need to give them that, we need to defend that situation better.

“The second one comes off a throw-in which is a basic situation that we haven’t defended really well, or made interceptions to stop them coming in.

“It’s a harsh scoreline from the opening period where I thought we were very good. It knocked us a little bit to be honest, it took the wind out of us.

“You just see a little bit of a sink in the belief of the players in that moment, but then we finished the half fairly stronger and after half time started well.

“But the goals were certainly a frustration for us, after such a good start and lots of entries in the final third that we didn’t quite make enough of.

“Over the balance of play, and the stats, it’s a really even game in lots of ways, and they used the moments certainly better than we did.”

“We have a very good chance at 2-0 to get ourselves back in the game, and create a real lively last 20 minutes, and don’t take that.

“Then the third goal just kills the last five minutes from being a little bit of an Alamo situation, and it’s an unfortunate one as well.

““I think they’re a big, athletic, powerful team.

"They work incredibly hard, they’ve got excellent organisation, they defend their box really well and they’re having a great season.

“But we just didn’t quite have enough to make any moments go in our favour, partly because we’ve got to do better in certain situations, and partly down to their defending.”