Luton weathered a spirited first half storm from League Two Harrogate to score four past the minnows and book a fourth round tie away to Cambridge United.
Elijah Adebayo, Cameron Jerome, Kal Naismith and Luke Berry all notched to make it a more comfortable scoreline than it seemed, as the Hatters had to shake off some ring rust from 29 days with a game due to the Christmas Covid chaos. Here are seven things that stood out as Luton marched on in the FA Cup.
- Elijah Adebayo proved ruthless
Elijah Adebayo is still a few weeks away from his first anniversary asa Luton player, but it’s been a year of fulfilled promised, as the striker just keeps getting better and better.
With 10 games to his name already this season before an FA Cup ball was kicked, those stats tell their own story. But while he and his team-mates laboured to find their rhythm, and Harrogate sensed a shock, it was the 23-year-old’s clinical composure that proved the difference.
Collecting Cameron Jerome’s flick-on just outside the box, there shouldn’t have been any route to goal but, brimming with sharpshooting confidence, he swivelled a found the bottom corner, to add a few quid on an ever growing price tag that Hatters will hope proves too pricey during this month’s transfer window.
Kal Naismith said: “We had the big man up top. The game was to and fro, nothing really in it. The big man gets it, turns and scores in the bottom corner. When you’ve got that Premier League quality up top, that’s what can happen. The game kind of turned on that.”
2. Is there anything Kaldini can’t do?
Boss Nathan Jones said Kal Naismith was the only player who looked like he hadn’t been away for 29-Covid enforced days. And he did his main job of keeping it tight at the back, enough to win his ninth clean sheet of the campaign, in 22 appearances.
But it was the skill and calmness that the Scot showed to score his first of the season.
He caught a volley perfectly and that had the split-second impression it could bother the Harrogate keeper Mark Oxley until it was blocked. But, alive to the second ball, Naismith chested and burst into the box, dinking over the stopper and watching with almost slow motion glory as the ball dropped into an empty net. Did I mention, he’s a defender ya know!
3. Berry back with a bang
Barring a two-and-a-half month lay-off, after injuring himself against Hull in October, the sight of Luke Berry arriving late in the box and making the net bulge is becoming a regular sight.
When he thumped Fred Onyedinma’s cutback in off the crossbar he registered his fifth of the season in only eight appearances.
It’s a remarkable record that’s just outside a goal every other game. It’s not bad for a midfielder that wasn’t fancied under the previous regime, but was signed in the first spell of the current one to do exactly what he’s doing, but back then in League Two. He’ll now get a chance to show his former club, Cambridge United, just what an important player he is for Town when the two teams meet in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
4. Shea Shining to keep Sluga out
Having dominated his box in the first half when Harrogate were bombarding it with crosses, the game was won by the time James Shea flung himself at Luke Armstrong effort, fingertipping it to safety, but that made his dedication all the more impressive. Moments later he made another one in a rare positive second half spell for the visitors, which must have demoralised them as much as the three ruthless finishes that had already put the game beyond the League Two side.
And those saves, among an assured performance, ensured his third clean sheet in five appearances, half of Town’s ten shutouts this term. With a fine victory at Blackpool and then a point against Fulham before this cup victory, it’s hard to see how he won’t be the first name on the teamsheet when Luton host Championship leaders Bournemouth on Saturday.
5. Lansbury booked again
His quality on the ball has shone this season and he’s certainly surprised me with his willingness to do the dirty stuff. But the midfielder is a yellow card waiting to happen and he picked up his eighth of the season in his 18th appearance.
6. The magic of the cup? Not around these parts
It’s all anyone ever talks about once the FA Cup rolls around, but the ‘magic of the cup’ crops up very rarely. Yes, you’ll have seen shocks on Match of the Day, but for every Cambridge beating Newcastle you’ll get Luton rattling in four goals against lower league rivals when they’d barely got out of second gear.
Magic is the underdog overcoming the odds. Magic is the enticing cup draw. What’s not in the slightest bit abracadabra is a 24th meeting with Cambridge United in 13 years, despite the last four of those being spent in different divisions.
It’s not a derby, whatever nonsense you may get fed in the coming weeks, but at least it presents a decent chance of going deeper into the FA Cup.
7. There’s more important things that football
Welcome back Mick Harford. You’ve been missed. That is all.
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