Luton Town are into the Premier League for the first time in their history after edging out Coventry City 6-5 on penalties in the Championship Play-Off final on Saturday evening. The match finished 1-1 after normal time, with Jordan Clark giving Luton the lead in the first half before Gustavo Hamer equalised for the Sky Blues in the second half. Both teams struggled to create anything in extra-time which led to penalty kicks, where Luton got over the line, scoring all six of their penalties before Coventry’s Fankaty Dabo sent his over the crossbar.
Rob Edwards has taken his team into the top flight (Picture: Getty Images)The game had a worrying start for Luton as Gabriel Osho bundled in a Tom Lockyer header, but the former was judged to be offside. Lockyer was at the centre of a scary moment just a few minutes later when he went down and lay still on the pitch, with no contact from any other player or even anyone near him. There were extremely concerning moments as the Luton man received treatment on the pitch but he was conscious as he was stretchered off and was taken to hospital, with a diagnosis yet to come.
Luton took the lead on 23 minutes through Jordan Clark, thanks to superb work from Elijah Adebayo on the left as he got on the end of a long ball and burst into the penalty box before finding Clark with a pull-back, who beat his man and powered a finish home at the near post. Coventry improved after the break and equalised through Gustavo Hamer on 66 minutes. There were half chances at both ends but neither side could strike before the game went to extra-time.
It looked like Luton had snatched it late on when Coventry substitute Jonathan Panzo inexplicably gave the ball away to allow Hatters sub Joe Taylor to burst in on goal and find the back of the net. However, as Taylor pinched the ball from Panzo it flicked up and hit his hand, so the strike was ruled out. The game went to penalties and there were 11 perfect spot-kicks before Dabo sent his over the crossbar to send Luton into the top flight.
It is a stunning achievement from Rob Edwards and his side to reach the Premier League for the first time and return to the top flight for the first time since 1992. The Hatters were in the Conference as recently as 2014 and were only promoted from League Two to League One in 2018 in what has been a remarkable return to the big time from real depths.