Garry Monk hailed the character of his side following Wednesday evening’s penalty shoot-out victory over Fleetwood Town in the EFL Cup.

United booked a Round Two tie away to Luton Town after winning 5-4 on penalties following a dramatic 2-2 draw at Highbury, with goals from Marcus Antonsson and Chris Wood helping send the game to spot-kicks.

“It’s important to be in the next round,” said Monk. “Over the course of the game, I thought we deserved to win, albeit on penalties in the end.

“I thought the players showed really good character and that was the biggest thing for me after a difficult result over the weekend.

“We went a goal behind and in difficult conditions, so all of that was on young shoulders. I thought they did very well and showed good character.

“They didn’t have too many chances after scoring the goal in the first half. We should have put the game to bed before that, especially in the 90 minutes when we were pushing for it.

“Even in that period of extra-time when we got the second goal, we had a number of chances and we should have taken them to make it that bit more comfortable for ourselves.

“It was a proper cup tie – I think everyone got their money’s worth tonight. The most important thing is that we won and got into the draw.”