Hatters land Radford Award

Luton Town scoop FA Cup award after Scott Rendell stunned Norwich in the Fourth Round Having already claimed the Player of the Round award for his match-winner against Norwich City, Scott Rendell’s late strike has also secured Luton Town the Ronnie Radford Award for the season’s best giant-killing act. On paper it looked a pretty one-sided affair; a Premier League side drawn at home to play a team from the Conference Premier in the Fourth Round of The FA Cup. A non-League side hadn’t beaten a top-flight side in The Cup for 24 years, since Sutton United’s heroics against Coventry City. But that game was in Surrey, the home patch of the minnows. So an away game for Luton made the unlikely almost impossible. Chris Hughton’s side may have suffered a heavy 5-0 defeat at Anfield a week earlier, but after despatching nearby rivals Peterborough 3-0 away from home in the previous round, Luton in their own back yard should have been relatively straightforward. Particularly after Norwich had also turned over Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur in Premier League games earlier in the campaign.    However, Luton – managed at the time by Paul Buckle – had got the taste for giant-killing having seen off Championship outfit Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Third Round. And the game looked to be heading for a replay with neither side able to find the breakthrough. That was until Rendell emerged from the bench to stun Carrow Road. With ten minutes left, JJ O'Donnell nipped down the left flank and fizzed a ball into the near post. Rendell was sharp onto it, six yards out and applied a deft touch under pressure from defender Ryan Bennett to divert past Declan Rudd and into the net. The goal meant the Hatters became the first ever Conference side to win away against Premier League opposition - and only the seventh non-League side to reach the Fifth Round in the post-war era. Norwich, however, were not the only Premier League side to suffer Cup heartbreak in the Fourth Round. Queens Park Rangers were beaten 4-2 by Milton Keynes Dons at Loftus Road and Liverpool were eliminated at the hands of Oldham Athletic 3-2 at Boundary Park. Those two results put the League One sides in the running for the Ronnie Radford Award as well, while Conference club Macclesfield Town made up the four-strong shortlist after a 2-1 home win over Championship high-flyers Cardiff City, despite trailing with five minutes left of their Third Round tie. However, it was Luton who comfortably claimed the prize after taking over 60 per cent of the fans’ votes on TheFA.com. The Hatters will be presented with their trophy before The FA Cup Final at Wembley on Saturday 11 May and now join previous winners Crawley Town, then in the Conference Premier, who were crowned in 2011 after beating Derby, and Swindon Town, whose win over Wigan Athletic earned the Robins the honour last year. Source: thefa