Luton have had bigger days at Wembley, more glorious Hatters’ tea parties. They retain a chance of returning for League One’s playoffs in May. If this did not match 1988’s League Cup final, Brian Stein and all that, or 2023’s promotion from the Championship, it can signpost the club’s current road to recovery. For Jack Wilshere, six months and 38 games into his managerial career, at the club he played for until joining Arsenal at seven, it was a first trophy of a second footballing life, Nahki Wells’ double securing victory. This was the trophy Luton had lost in the quarter-finals, only to be reinstated, amid Swindon’s “whoopsie” of ineligible players, as Ian Holloway, their manager, called it.
Stockport suffered the same fate as in 1992 and 1993, when losing under Danny Bergara, the Uruguayan after whom an Edgeley Park stand is named. Wembley continues to disappoint those with an SK postcode.
