Luton reach Premier League after beating Coventry on penalties in dramatic play-off final
The decision made by each manager to begin the richest game in football with an unchanged starting line-up appeared to be of more immediate benefit to the Hatters, who would have stormed into the lead had it not been the offside flag.
Gabriel Osho, the scorer of his side’s opener in their semi-final second-leg turnaround against Sunderland, bundled over the line from a corner, but had just got on the wrong side of Brooke Norton-Cuffy before doing so. Then to make matters worse, influential captain Tom Lockyer was forced off after collapsing to the turf inside 12 minutes.
This double setback, partnered with Luton’s own history of five losses in seven previous visits to Wembley, would have been enough to unsettle most sides, but not this one. Instead, they kept a spooked Coventry in a headlock and finally got their reward with 23 minutes played.
Chasing down a seemingly lost ball, Elijah Adebayo left Kyle McFadzean in his wake before cutting back to Jordan Clark, who fired into the near top-left corner to break the deadlock.
Before the break, Luton would rue a second disallowed goal, this time for Adebayo’s handling of the ball over the line, and whilst it was a sign of their first-half dominance, the Sky Blues’ first attempt on goal in the 43rd minute from Gustavo Hamer was a warning sign to the team ahead.
Eventually, the punishment for their complacency was dealt by Hamer, who got Mark Robins’ men back on level terms after half-time by slotting his 11th goal of the season into the bottom right corner at the end of a lightning counter-attack.
Marking the third time Coventry have pegged back Luton this season after two head-to-head draws in the regular Championship campaign, the final entered unfamiliar territory as a winner had to be found. After Hamer’s afternoon was unfortunately ended by injury in the closing stages of the 90 minutes, it was clear that the decider lay in extra time or beyond.
Opportunities remained scarce, even with Premier League football on the line, as the additional minutes ticked away. This was largely down to both sets of players being pushed to their limits of endurance at the end of a gruelling season, leaving the door open to mistakes.
This is exactly what transpired in a 117th-minute moment of madness, as substitute Jonathan Panzo conceded possession to Joe Taylor, who raced through to finish past Ben Wilson.
However, VAR found the Luton man’s tackle ricocheted off his outstretched hand before scoring, resulting in a third disallowed goal for the Hatters at the death, and forcing a penalty shoot-out to decide the fate of two clubs that five years ago were in League Two.
Ethan Horvath and Wilson were tasked with writing their names into second-tier folklore, but neither were able to get anywhere close to saving the first five spot-kicks sent their way.
It went to sudden death as a result with Dan Potts tucking his left-footed strike into the bottom left corner before Fankaty Dabo caved under the pressure and skied the ball over the crossbar.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Elijah Adebayo (Luton Town)
