Pete Wild hails ‘proper FA Cup tie’ as Fleetwood knock out Luton in shootout

Fleetwood manager Pete Wild could not hide his delight after his side’s FA Cup second-round penalty shootout win at home to Luton.

Ethan Ennis twice gave the hosts the lead in driving rain, but they were pegged back both times through Jerry Yates and Teden Mengi.

With no goals in extra-time, the tie went to penalties and Jacob Brown and Liam Walsh missed from the spot for League One Luton in a 4-2 defeat.

“That was a top game of football, a proper FA Cup tie,” Wild said. “That was two teams going bang at each other.

“Luton are an unbelievable team, they’ve got so much quality and they showed that.

“I thought they were brilliant and we had to stand strong for long periods of that game today and make sure that we defended well.

“We had a lot to do and I thought we did it well. We had opportunities of our own and we were lucky enough to take them.

“I’m not bothered who we get in the next round, anybody from the Premier League here will be fantastic and I want this weather too, it suits us down to the ground.”

Luton boss Jack Wilshere rued his side’s missed chances, despite Yates cancelling out Ennis’ first goal and Mengi’s stoppage-time equaliser.

Though pleased with his players’ efforts, it was the goals conceded that will haunt him.

“It’s frustrating, because we felt like it was a real opportunity to progress,” said Wilshere. “And of course we respected them, but we also thought we could win.

“You have to take your opportunities because you know they’re going to come back. You know that they’re going to put balls in the box and you know they’re going to make it difficult for you.

“We had good opportunities, we didn’t take them and then we gave away cheap goals, so that’s always tough.

“We showed character to come back and force it into extra-time, but we have to take our opportunities.”