Money proud of response

Cambridge boss Richard Money took the positives from his side's second half performance as they went down 3-2 at Luton.

The U's chief, who takes his men to Old Trafford on Tuesday for the FA Cup fourth-round replay, saw his side trailing 3-0 at half-time, before they almost snatched an unlikely draw courtesy of a late fightback. Goals from Johnny Hunt and Robbie Simpson restored some pride for United, but the first-half strikes by Andy Drury, Luke Wilkinson and Jonathan Smith proved enough in the end for the Hatters. Money said: "I said to them, sometimes you grow as a team in adversity. "The second-half performance will enable us to grow in the future, because you need to see what you're like when you're under that pressure and trying to come back from that scoreline against one of the best teams in the league. "For 65 minutes of the game we were excellent, but the game was lost in that 25 minute period where we lost a goal out of nothing, having hit the bar and missed two good opportunities to go in front. "Then you concede a second goal from a corner which is poor and not like us, but in those moments you have to regroup quickly and stay in the game, but we conceded a third too." The visitors had started well at Kenilworth Road as Tom Elliott struck the bar with a header and Ryan Donaldson screwed wide. However, Luton went ahead on 19 minutes when Jake Howells' shot drew a sharp stop from Chris Dunn, only for Drury to volley in the rebound. It was 2-0 moments after the half-hour mark as Drury swung over a corner and Wilkinson leapt highest to nod home. Luton looked to have sewn the points up on the stroke of half-time when Smith's shot was fumbled into the net by a red-faced Dunn. But Cambridge mounted plenty of pressure and pulled one back when Cameron McGeehan teed up the onrushing Hunt to fire into the corner. The U's screamed for a penalty when the ball appeared to strike Howells' arm, but with five minutes remaining, Simpson gathered a long ball to swivel and finish beyond Mark Tyler. Town first-team coach Hakan Hayrettin said: "First half we were outstanding, pressed really high and 3-0 was a great half-time score for us. "But we emphasised the need to carry on what we were doing, so fair play to them, they threw caution to the wind, took the bull by the horns and gave it a go. "They had nothing to lose, but the pleasing thing for us was we worked hard to the 90th minute and got the result. "They're three fantastic points too as whenever we play Cambridge it's always a close encounter, but we won, stood firm and got the points."