Will Unwin was there to deliver this match report.
Jordan Rhodes, the goalscorer who made it 200 career goals, and Sorba Thomas, the supplier fo 15 assists, speak to Sky Sports.
JR: “Not many words, these are special nights you will remember for a lifetime.”
ST: “It’s amazing. We go in there with a lot of confidence, this man here with 200 goals.”
JR: “I am just happy to be on the field to contribute. He’s been doing it all season, great to have him back on the field.”
ST: “I had to practice my set pieces and hit Jordan Rhodes back post. A striker’s instinct, there it was.”
JR: “He put enough curl on for us older ones to make contact.”
Sorry, Luton. A fine season goes unrewarded. And unremarked upon in this rather generic tweet.
Full-time.#HUDLUT | #COYH pic.twitter.com/WxGFCjvZVg
— Luton Town FC (@LutonTown) May 16, 2022
Congratulations to Huddersfield. Their fans are celebrating to the sound of the Dave Clark Five and Blur. Sandstorm did the job before.
𝙒𝙀. 𝘼𝙍𝙀. 𝙂𝙊𝙄𝙉𝙂. 𝙏𝙊. 𝙒𝙀𝙈𝘽𝙇𝙀𝙔!
— Huddersfield Town (@htafc) May 16, 2022
It's one last game for the Terriers, with the lads just a single win from the Premier League...
Congratulations to Luton Town on an incredible 2021/22 season and for a brilliant couple of legs 👏@SportsBrokerHQ | #htafc pic.twitter.com/n0ItnrcrUq
Full-time: Huddersfield 1-0 Luton (2-1 agg)
And Huddersfield are going to Wembley. And will play either Sheffield United or Nottingham Forest. Sorba Thomas and Jordan Rhodes’ combination took them there. The Mighty Terriers are heading to London and to the biggest, richest, game in the world ever.
Updated
90+4 min: Lord John Russell kills time, and the home fans are ready and raring to invade the pitch.
90+3 min: Luton waste the ball, playing it square rather than launching it. Then are caught offside. Their spirits seem broken. You’d have to be mad as a, er, hatter, to tip them now.
90+2 min: All Huddersfield. Rhodes and O’Brien try to kill time in the corner. Then Mendes Gomes is fouled. Luton will get it launched.
90 min: Luton struggling to create an attack. Lots of forwards on, nobody to give them the ball. Four minutes to be added on. Desperate times in Bedfordshire.
89 min: Luton getting ragged and Campbell, lucky not to be booked before, pulls down O’Brien. Adebayo, who was clearly not fit, is going to come on for Luton. He replaces Cornick. It had to be him...his first act is to defend a corner.
88 min: Huddersfield chase another. And Pipa shoots from long distance.
87 min: Luton change: Burke off, and Mendes Gomes, the wild card, comes on.
86 min: Huddersfield change: Sarr comes on, and Duane Holmes off.
Updated
84 min: The two subs there combined for Huddersfield, who are heading back to Wembley it seems. Luton fell asleep at the back, and Rhodes was the one player with the nous they didn’t want the ball to fall for.
Goal! Huddersfield 1-0 Luton (2-1 agg) (Rhodes, 82)
Toffolo tries an overhead. Misses it. Cameron Jerome is booked for a foul. And Huddersfield have a free-kick. Thomas, the set-piece specialist, finds Jordan Rhodes, and the poacher supreme ghosts past Bell and pokes in.
Updated
81 min: Back go Huddersfield for more. The witching hour approaches. Matt Ingram clears as Toffolo, this time without fouling him, goes to punch clear.
79 min: End to end to end to end to end....
77 min: Luton free-kick, and Bree takes it, forcing Rhodes to knock it behind. All types of pushing for the corner. And then for the next one when Rhodes heads it away once more. Then Snodgrass takes time, makes space and tees up Cornick...no, a fresh air shot. A severe lack of Premier quality in the finishing.
75 min: Chaos in the Luton box. Ingram makes a fine save after Rhodes creates a chance, and then drops the ball, and then smashes into Toffolo. No VAR, no penalty. That would have been a video-assisted spot-kick. The ball now pinging around both boxes. Soccer!
Updated
74 min: Mistake by Hogg lets in Cornick, and Nicholls makes a fine save. Bree can get one back in, but takes far too long.
73 min: Edginess abounds now. Just one piece of inspiration, just one mistake and the cash registers start spinning in the mind...
71 min: Luton back in the ascendancy as Bell is fouled. Snodgrass, whips in a free-kick that Jerome knocks wide, falling as he does so. Just past the post, needed someone else to follow it in.
69 min: Snodgrass’ corner is cleared. Good, solid defending gets the job done.
68 min: Luton, who have looked a bit tired, take a while over a throw-in. Then Cornick whips the ball in, and it’s knocked behind for a corner.
66 min: Luton change: off goes Hylton, and on comes Cameron Jerome, a Hudds lad by birth.
65 min: Colwill has the ball in the net, but a foul on Sonny Bradley means it won’t count. Great delivery from Thomas and there’s a delay in play as a premature blue pyro is launched to the field.
64 min: Naismith booked for Luton, having clattered Sorba Thomas through the back. The fouls now mounting up.
62 min: Poor from O’Brien, who indulges in shithousery when Campbell kicks the ball away and makes the merest brush past his ear. O’Brien acts as if shot, the silly sod. That’s a booking the Huddersfield player was lucky to escape.
61 min: Rhodes and Ingram jump for the ball and, as ever, the foul goes to the Luton goalie. Huddersfield make a first change as Sinani goes off, and on comes Sorba Thomas.
59 min: Some hearty tackles going in, as Luton’s Clark is booked for crashing into Jordan Rhodes. There’s the first booking.
57 min: A prediction: this is going to extra time and penalties. Too scrappy for a goal to be found from it. We are relying on a mistake, and a personal tragedy, for one to go in.
55 min: Burke launches the ball downfield, and it soon comes back to Luton’s defence, as Naismith has to hurtle across to clear.
53 min: Bell heads just wide for Luton, and only a defender’s challenge stops him having a clear sight on goal.
52 min: A Luton attack, at last in this half, and Lees has to clear rather hurriedly. A Snodgrass ball finds Burke, and then Hylton fouls the Hudds goalie. There’s some afters but the waters are calmed soon enough.
50 min: Sinani gets pace to shoot, but Matt Ingram is equal to the task in the Luton goal.
48 min: More Huddersfield attacking. They are much improved from the first half. Luton rocking back a little.
46 min: And back underway we go. Huddersfield force an immediate corner. And they almost conjure a goal, with chaos in the Luton box, and then Lees can’t keep his header down.
Some EFL news before we go back underway.
Half-time: Huddersfield 0-0 Luton (1-1 agg)
We close out with a Huddersfield free-kick, after a Reece Burke foul. Sinani is given the honour, and whacks it into the crowd for the end of the half. Luton had the best chances, through Hylton and Campbell, and the best of the half. They may live to rue being behind.
Updated
45 min: Two minutes are added on, and it’s slowed up a bit. For the first 30 minutes it was breathless.
43 min: Hudds fans boo as Luton mount another attack. Their team will have done well to get to half-time without conceding.
41 min: On comes Jordan Rhodes, who played for Huddersfield under Herbert Chapman ten years ago before going on his travels.
40 min: Luton continue to push on. They’ve been excellent bar the shooting. Oh dear, looks like that’s that for Danny Ward. He’s pulled up.
38 min: Ward limps off. But seems to be OK.
Richard Hirst gets in touch: “Important question of the day: how tall and thin is the Huddersfield Town keeper? In the picture at the top of the page he looks to have legs like a giraffe. Btw, as a Fulham supporter I can’t tell you how wonderful it is not to have the stress of the play offs. Winning at Wembley is a fantastic experience, but not having to undergo it is even better.” [pic now below]
Updated
37 min: Jordan Clark gets time and space for Luton to shoot, and attempts a drifter but doesn’t get anything on it. Then comes a Huddersfield attack, and Toffolo looks to have cut through. He forces a save from Ingram in Luton’s goal. Danny Ward is down, and nobody around him as he falls.
35 min: At last, a Huddersfield attack, but the cross in from the left is too high for O’Brien.
33 min: Huddersfield hanging on a bit here. Their fans are nervous. Audibly so.
31 min: Nicholls palms away as Bree’s shot spins in and there’s panic. Then comes a corner Hogg has to head away. Luton are piling it on. Then Hylton misses when the ball drops on to him. That was the closest yet. Did it come off Campbell? All Luton here.
Updated
28 min: Luton force a corner. Cornick and Hylton have been to the fore. A pushing match delays its taking. Eventually, the ball comes back out and Snodgrass waves his wand of a left foot, opens a tin of beans, and it’s cleared with desperation.
26 min: A tangle in the Huddersfield box as Hylton is sent away from a long pass. Vague shouts for a penalty are met with a shrug from the referee.
24 min: Hard to know where the next goal comes from, as both teams are full of energy but the poise seems to have been left behind. For the moment, at least. Then again, who watches playoff games to see poise and cool? The sillier the better.
22 min: Huddersfield stepping it right up now. Ward is sent down the left flank but has nobody to pass to once he reaches the touchline.
21 min: John Russell to the fore for Huddersfield, perhaps the only player on show named after a 19th century UK prime minister.
18 min: Huddersfield still looking to find their stride, but go on the attack and sustain some pressure before Danny Ward pings one wide. Ward starred for Swindon in their run to the League One final of 2010. He scored in the second leg at Charlton from hazy memory.
16 min: Luton look more dangerous and energetic. Snodgrass pumps in a shot, and Nicholls palms away. And Bell might have done better with the rebound.
14 min: Another wasted corner from Huddersfield. Their set pieces have not been great.
Updated
13 min: Sinani is tackled then the ball goes up to Luton’s forwards, then back again. Huddersfield force a corner when Hylton runs back to head behind.
11 min: Cornick again, his shot blocked and Huddersfield goalkeeper Nicholls makes the block. Luton opening up Huddersfield?
10 min: Cornick again escapes, and though his shot is blocked, there’s some panic in the Hudds defence. Pipa just seemed to hack at it and is lucky there’s no Luton player lurking. We are already at playoff pace. End to end, and blind panic is the order of the day.
8 min: An opening for Luton, Snodgrass playing in Cornick, who crosses the ball rather than shoot but finds nobody in support.
7 min: Huddersfield make a terrible waste of the free-kick and launch it out of play.
6 min: Sinani is the out-ball for Huddersfield. Lewis O’Brien cuts inside, and gets fouled by Reece Burke.
4 min: There’s a techno beat to the home fans’ drums. They love a bit of hard and heavy stuff in those West Yorkshire towns. Their fans cheer on a first attack of the night before Sonny Bradley comes across to clear for Luton.
Updated
2 min: For Luton, Burke forces a corner by chasing down a long ball. Then comes another corner as Danny Ward clears with the ball heading in. Hylton heads over at the next one as the ball is pumped back in.
1 min: And away we go. A 90-minute countdown to Wembley, with a possible extra 30 to come. Could be a long night. Penalties, too. Huddersfield beat Sheffield Wednesday at this stage on pens in 2017.
Big atmosphere in West Yorkshire tonight, the leafy hills looking down on the stadium. The PA system has been ramping it right up with Sandstorm, from Darude.
Updated
Nathan Jones, the Luton head coach, as intense a character as his opposite number, speaks to Sky Sports.
We knew we would be in the tie, and it was important we weren’t behind. The margins have been really small; and we have a one-off shootout game. We just want to keep as fresh and aggressive as possible. With Eliah Adebayo, if we need him, we’ll put him on. We’ll see.
The Huddersfield head coach, Carlos Corberan, spoke ahead of this game.
It was a demanding game, but we were expecting that. If you play a play-off and you don’t expect a demanding game, you are totally wrong.
Now we are going to have another demanding game at home where the pitch is a little bit bigger and we have our own fans. But I expect the demands and the challenges to produce another equal and balanced game.
Updated
Jimmy Flynn, Huddersfield fan, gets in touch, and he’s full of confidence: “Huddersfield perfectly placed to go long into this game. Lots of pacey players on the bench who can change the game if we need it. Tino Anjorin and Sorba Thomas to make the difference.”
Nick Ames attended the first leg, Will Unwin will be reporting later. Here’s the report from that Friday night first leg.
Important news from the EFL from earlier this evening.
What does those teams mean?
Huddersfield head coach Carlos Corberán has made two changes. Ollie Turton has been ruled out with the injury sustained in the first half at Kenilworth Road on Friday. Pipa comes in, as does Chelsea loanee Levi Colwill comes in for Naby Sarr, who is a substitute tonight. Josh Ruffels is on the bench.
Nathan Jones has made two changes. Robert Snodgrass comes in for the injured Henri Lansbury as Danny Hylton starts up front alongside Harry Cornick, with Cameron Jerome, the veteran, amongst the substitutes. The Hatters’ top scorer Elijah Adebayo is on the bench.
Here are the teams
Huddersfield: Nicholls, Lees, Hogg, Colwill, Pipa, Holmes, Russell, O’Brien, Toffolo, Sinani, Ward. Subs: Anjorin, Rhodes, Ruffels, Thomas, Blackman, Sarr, Eiting.
🚨 TEAM NEWS 🚨
— Huddersfield Town (@htafc) May 16, 2022
Carlos Corberán makes 2️⃣ changes for our Play-Off Semi-Final home leg this evening!
➡️ Pipa and Levi Colwill
⬅ Ollie Turton (injury) and Naby Sarr (sub)#htafc | @SportsBrokerHQ pic.twitter.com/EYeXKExA75
🟠 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐒 🟠
— Luton Town FC (@LutonTown) May 16, 2022
Here's how we line-up for the @SkyBetChamp play-off semi-final second leg.#HUDLUT | #COYH
Luton: Ingram, Burke, Bradley, Naismith, Snodgrass, Bree, Campbell, Clark, Bell, Hylton, Cornick. Subs: Potts, Adebayo, Mendes Gomes, Lockyer, Kioso, Isted, Jerome.
Referee: Peter Bankes (Merseyside)
Updated
Preamble
If Nathan Jones has been gone too long, then so have Luton, who missed out on the Premier League when football began in 1992, and have plumbed far greater depths than relegation from the top division in the three decades since. Friday night against Huddersfield, who were in the top flight as recently as the 2018-19 season, was an even, scrappy contest at Kenilworth Road.
That leaves tonight’s match open, and with few pre-conceptions of what may happen now. Huddersfield manager Carlos Corberan, the Marcelo Bielsa disciple, and Jones, the Luton boss, make for something for a clash of styles, though there will be no shortage of the frantic football that these fixtures bring.
Kick-off at 7.45pm, join me.
