Luton are Premier League-bound for the first time in their history after a dramatic penalty shootout win over Coventry in a fairytale Championship play-off final.
The Hatters are the first team ever in English football to go from the top-flight to non-league and back again, ending a 31-year absence from the first division after Fankaty Dabo produced the only miss of an otherwise stellar shootout at the end of a tense 1-1 draw at Wembley.
Luton - in the Conference less than a decade ago after slipping out of the EFL entirely with a 30-point deduction - thought they had actually won the game in the latter stages of extra time, only for substitute Joe Taylor’s strike to be agonisingly disallowed for handball.
Saturday’s final between two teams who were both in League Two as recently as 2018 was overshadowed by scary scenes after just six minutes, when Luton captain Tom Lockyer collapsed on the edge of his own 18-yard box.
The 28-year-old received oxygen and was treated for several minutes by both clubs’ medical teams before being stretchered off. Luton later confirmed reports that Lockyer had been taken to hospital for tests, thankfully conscious and talking to his family, who had come down from the stands to join him in the Wembley medical room.
Tom’s Dad here. Tom is ok. Very happy but so sad he can’t be there with his team mates. Here is the moment……. pic.twitter.com/4mxlyGqbhI
— Steve Lockyer (@sl_cardiff) May 27, 2023
Lockyer’s father Steve then tweeted a picture of his son celebrating Luton’s win from his hospital bed, alongside the caption: “Tom’s Dad here. Tom is ok. Very happy but so sad he can’t be there with his team mates. Here is the moment…….”
Despite that early setback, Luton went on to dominate a one-sided first half, with defender Gabriel Osho having seen an early scrambled finish from point-blank range chalked off for offside.
The Hatters could have had three or four goals in a dominant opening period as their direct style and the determined forward play of strikers Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo caused no end of problems in the Coventry backline.
However, they went in at the interval only 1-0 ahead after superb work from Adebayo to chase a long ball into the left channel and shrug off Kyle McFadzean before teeing up Jordan Clark, who confidently rifled beyond Ben Wilson at his front post.
Luton had the ball in the net for the third time just before half-time, with Coventry captain Liam Kelly’s hooked clearance off the line bouncing in off the hand of an unsuspecting Adebayo.
It took Coventry 43 minutes even to register their first shot after a dismal first half, but they roused themselves to apply plenty of pressure after the break.
It seemed that the sting had been taken out of their early second-half fightback, when an almost carbon copy of Luton’s goal brought them level - Callum Doyle sending Victor Gyokeres chasing a long pass down the left.
Coventry’s top scorer then picked out fellow dangerman Gustavo Hamer, who guided the ball expertly past Ethan Horvath and into the bottom corner.
Both sides pushed for a last-gasp winner but extra time beckoned as Hamer was forced off through injury. Clark thought he had earned a penalty for Luton but was booked for simulation by referee Michael Oliver.
Taylor then slotted through the legs of Wilson with just minutes to go to spark pandemonium in the orange half of Wembley, only for another Luton effort to be ruled out after the ball had skipped up and hit his hand during a tussle with fellow substitute Jonathan Panzo.
Then came the agonising lottery of penalties, with every player keeping their nerve during a high-quality shootout, until Coventry defender Dabo blasted over to seal a 6-5 victory for Luton in the latest stage of their incredible story, joining Burnley and Sheffield United in the promised land.
