Luton Town make Preston pay penalty in FA Youth Cup

The Hatters Under-18s fired home all five of their spot kicks while Preston’s Freddie Tracey saw his effort cannon back off the post as Luton eventually triumphed 5-3.

Up until the closing minutes of normal time, it had looked like Luton would be heading straight through after Jack Snelus’ earlier goal continued to separate the two sides but Joshua Earl popped up with a late effort to force extra time.

And Preston even had a chance to win it just seconds before the shootout when Dylan Davidson was fouled in the area by Cameron McJannet but the same man saw his penalty crash back off the crossbar. 

At that point, Snulus’ sixth goal of the season after just five minutes had seemed like a lifetime ago, as Luton enjoyed a perfect start to the game.

The Hatters had further opportunities to extend their lead but Preston keeper Matthew Hudson was in strong form.

Preston began to grow into the game with Earl heading straight at Liam Gooch although Snelus had a goal disallowed on 38 minutes for offside.

After the break Preston continued to look for the equaliser with midfielder Jonathan Lunney testing Gooch with a shot on the turn.

But just as it looked as it Town had down enough, Earl guided his header past Gooch to take the game to extra-time.

The pace dropped somewhat with both teams beginning to tire although McJannet’s effort bounced just wide before his weary challenge handed Preston a late chance to win it.

But to his, and the team’s relief, Davidson’s penalty struck the bar leaving the Luton players to show him how it was done as James Justin, Snelus, Tyreeq Bakinson, Kavan Cotter and then Alex Atkinson all scored to set up a last-eight visit to Blackburn Rovers.

Meanwhile on Tuesday night, defending champions Chelsea were pushed all the way by a determined Wimbledon side before eventually reaching their seventh successive FA Youth Cup quarter-final with a 4-1 win.

Leading through Fikayo Tomori’s early goal, Chelsea were pegged back by Alfie Egan before the break and only made the game safe in the closing minutes to set up last-eight tie against Reading at Stamford Bridge.

The visitors had deservedly taken the lead inside the first quarter of an hour when centre back Tomori finished past goalkeeper Jack Wingate after Tammy Abraham’s shot was blocked.

But Wimbledon battled back with first Neset Bellikli firing a warning shot past Nathan Baxter’s post before Egan headed in 11 minutes before the break after Baxter had flapped at Toyosi Olusanya’s cross.

However 56th-minute substitute Jacob Maddox turned the game on its head, first cutting in from the left and sweeping home into the top right corner just ten minutes after he had stepped off the bench.

Wimbledon looked to hit back but they were stung by a rapid counter-attack on 83 minutes when Charlie Wakefield squared for Maddox to poke home a second and Mukhtar Ali curled in a fourth in stoppage time.