Hughton shocked by Cup defeat

27 January 2013 01:12

Norwich manager Chris Hughton admitted his team took their FA Cup clash with non-league Luton lightly, and were burned with a shock 1-0 defeat.

Luton, who ply their trade in the fifth-tier of English football, snatched a late win at Carrow Road courtesy of a close-range Scott Rendell strike.

Hughton said the days following the defeat will be tough for the squad, but demanded they bounce back from their lacklustre performance and concentrate on their Premier League campaign.

"How much of a shock is it? It is a big shock," Hughton told reporters. "We were rightly expected to beat them and this will be a tough few days.

"We have to give Luton credit. They came with a game plan and they relied on a few things happening to get the result.

"We found it very difficult to break them down. The good chances we had we could not put them away and that would have changed the game.

"Even in the second half period when we pushed and pushed they caught us on the classic counter-attack. That was a poor goal for us to concede and it was one thing we said at half-time.

"We wanted to push but we knew these were a fit side. Perhaps that one opportunity they had they scored in the second half."

Luton boss Paul Buckle said the full effect of the result is yet to hit them, and praised their travelling support.

"I don't think it has quite sunk in yet," Buckle said. "It is an incredible effort by the players.

"I know Norwich had a couple of good chances in the game and you expect that, but Mark (Tyler) has pulled off two good saves. Other than that the most pleasing thing for me is we defended so well and carried a threat going the other way.

"I am absolutely delighted for the players and the fans were out of this world. We probably couldn't have done it without those 4000 travelling fans."