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Eddie Chikamhi
Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE international Admiral Muskwe and his Luton Town teammates displayed a brave performance against the world club champions Chelsea but their efforts fell short after they were booted out of the FA Cup by the English Premiership football giants on Wednesday night.
Muskwe, who scored for the Hatters in the last FA Cup outing against Cambridge, returned to the starting line-up as Luton made five changes from last Saturday’s Championship win over Derby.
The Zimbabwean played 76 minutes as Luton looked set to cause a huge upset, and make the quarter-finals for the first time since 1994.
But they twice gave away their led before Belgian Romelu Lukaku broke their hearts with a 78th minute strike that earned the Blues a hard-fought 3-2 victory.
Muskwe started alongside Harry Cornick in attack against a makeshift Chelsea side that still featured some of the first team regulars like Lukaku, Jorginho, Timo Werner, Mason Mount and Antonio Rudiger.
Mount and Rudiger were the only Chelsea players to retain their places as Thomas Tuchel made nine changes from Sunday’s Carabao Cup final defeat to Liverpool.
The makeshift Chelsea team looked distracted and disjointed from the off, and Luton made them pay almost immediately.
Reece Burke gave Town the lead after only two minutes, heading in from Luke Berry’s corner. Chelsea equalised through Saul Niguez, before Harry Cornick put Luton back in front before half-time.
But the Blues would progress in the competition with second half goals from Werner and Lukaku.
Town had gotten off to the perfect start, scoring within the opening two minutes. Berry’s corner was perfect for Burke, whose header left Kepa Arrizabalaga with no chance in the Chelsea goal. But Thomas Tuchel’s side levelled the scores just before the half-hour mark. Werner cut inside the Hatters’ defence, and the ball fell into the path of Saul who curled the ball beyond substitute goalkeeper Harry Isted.
The ‘keeper was then forced into a number of saves in quick succession. The Hatters went back in front before half-time. After being played through by Carlos Mendes Gomes, Cornick ran through one-on-one and calmly slotted beyond Kepa.
Town took a 2-1 lead at the break, after a breathless first half.
The Blues made two changes on the hour mark, with Christian Pulisic and Harvey Vale introduced for Kenedy and Callum Hudson-Odoi.
Chelsea equalised through Werner. Ruben Loftus-Cheek found the German international with a ball forward, and he finished beyond Isted.
Muskwe’s contributions for Luton lasted until the 76th minute when he was replaced by Danny Hylton, after getting a booking a few moments earlier. Chelsea got the winner through Lukaku just two minutes later. Werner’s ball across goal was perfect for the £97.5m man, who slid the ball into the back of the net.
After a fantastic performance and leading twice against the world champions, it wasn’t to be for the Hatters who fell just short. Luton Town manager, Nathan Jones, was proud of his team’s effort.
“We wanted to have a right go and we wanted to come as far as we could to have a big tie here to give the fans something to get behind and we did.
“I’m disappointed with certain elements because I thought we could have been braver at times, but we made big changes, we were coming up against the reigning European and world champions.
Online Reporter