Full TimePosted at 90’+6′ Second Half ends, Luton Town 2, Sunderland 0.BookingPosted at 90’+6′ Amari’i Bell (Luton Town) is shown the yellow card.SubstitutionPosted at 90’+5′ Substitution, Luton Town. George Moncur replaces Jordan Clark.Post updatePosted at 90’+4′ Attempt blocked. Amari’i Bell (Luton Town) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.SubstitutionPosted at 90’+3′ Substitution, Sunderland. Aiden O’Brien replaces Chris Neil.Post updatePosted at 90’+2′ Attempt blocked. Jordan Clark (Luton Town) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.BookingPosted at 90’+1′ Joe Pritchard (Sunderland) is shown the yellow card.Post updatePosted at 90’+1′ Corner, Luton Town. Conceded by Anthony Patterson.SubstitutionPosted at 89′ Substitution, Luton Town. Ryan Tunnicliffe replaces Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu.Post updatePosted at 88′ Attempt missed. Amari’i Bell (Luton Town) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right.SubstitutionPosted at 87′ Substitution, Sunderland. Denver Hume replaces Max Power.SubstitutionPosted at 83′ Substitution, Luton Town. George Campbell replaces Jordan Clark.SubstitutionPosted at 77′ Substitution, Sunderland. Jack Diamond replaces Aiden O’Brien.SubstitutionPosted at 77′ Substitution, Sunderland. Jordan Huggins replaces George Gooch.SubstitutionPosted at 77′ Substitution, Sunderland. Jack Bainbridge replaces Amad Diallo.Post updatePosted at 75′ Attempt blocked. Joe Pritchard (Sunderland) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.Post updatePosted at 73′ Corner, Luton Town. Conceded by Anthony Patterson.Post updatePosted at 71′ Attempt saved. Jordan Clark (Luton Town) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner.SubstitutionPosted at 64′ Substitution, Sunderland. Jack Diamond replaces Dan Neil.SubstitutionPosted at 64′ Substitution, Sunderland. Jack Michuta replaces Aiden Gelhardt.Post updatePosted at 62′ Attempt saved. Jordan Clark (Luton Town) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
Luton Town are one win away from returning to the top flight of English football for the first time since 1992 after they overturned a first-leg deficit to beat Sunderland 2-0 and reach the Championship play-off final. Roared on by a raucous home crowd inside their 118-year-old Kenilworth Road home, Luton should have made it three when keeper Anthony Patterson misdirected a clearance and Jordan Clark blazed wastefully over. Sunderland stuck to their passing principles, but the only serious save home keeper Ethan Horvath had to make throughout was from the head of one of his own players, Elijah Adebayo, when the score was 1-0.
The two managers named the same XIs which started the first leg, and Sunderland had reasons for optimism following a 10-match unbeaten run and the knowledge that only champions Burnley had prevented them scoring in a league game since November. Looking for back-to-back promotions after coming up from League One via the play-offs last term, they had two penalty appeals turned down inside the first 12 minutes, with the referee ruling that Amad Diallo had run into Marvelous Nakamba before tumbling to the ground and Amari’I Bell’s handball was unintentional.
In between, though, they fell behind when Lockyer won a header from a corner and the ball fell for Osho to turn it home for his third goal of the season. Although the Wearsiders showed some nice passes and movement when they encroached into Luton’s half, they were in trouble virtually every time a high ball came into their box. Trai Hume cleared a Carlton Morris effort off the line from Alfie Doughty’s cross but the ball rebounded back towards the goal off Pierre Ekwah and Luke O’Nien had to hack it away to prevent an own goal. Morris went close again with a header from Clark’s free-kick which keeper Patterson pushed away at full stretch, but was powerless seconds later as Adebayo returned the ball into the box and Lockyer glanced it inches wide.
The pressure was relentless and, after his initial corner was played back to him two minutes before half-time, Doughty produced an inviting inswinging cross which Lockyer met with an unstoppable header. Luton finished 11 points clear of Sunderland in the regular season and Doughty’s dead-ball deliveries continued to cause panic in the Black Cats’ defence and Adebayo should have done better when he headed a corner over from five yards.
With the tie slipping away, Sunderland pressed forward and Patrick Roberts dragged a shot wide before attempting a left-footed curler as he cut in from the right, again off target. Tony Mowbray was a member of Ipswich’s winning Championship play-off final team in 2000, but the Sunderland boss could only watch as his side struggled in vain to breach a committed Luton defence. Patterson was sent into the Luton box for a corner in added time but was stranded upfield as Luton broke away. But instead of squaring for an easy tap-in, Cody Drameh put his side-footed effort into the side-netting. It did not matter, however, as the Hatters kept the door shut to secure a trip to Wembley on 27 May with a place in the Premier League at stake, having lost to Huddersfield at the semi-final stage of the play-offs 12 months ago.
Victory at Wembley would cap a remarkable change in fortunes for a club that dropped out of the English Football League in 2009 and only reclaimed their place five years later. They took the next two steps under Nathan Jones, achieving back-to-back promotions in 2018 and 2019 before he moved on to Stoke City. Jones returned 16 months later to help secure their Championship status and then guided them to play-offs by finishing sixth last season. After strengthening the squad with signings such as top scorer Morris, they looked well placed to match that run, but had to make a change of manager mid-season when Jones was appointed by Southampton and Rob Edwards was brought in as his replacement, having begun the campaign with Home Counties rivals Watford. It did not halt their momentum and a 14-game unbeaten run secured third place in the table and a home second leg in the play-off semi-final, an advantage Edwards’ side made count.