Luton Town completed their journey from non-league to Premier League as they beat Coventry City 6-5 on penalties to win the Championship play-off final at Wembley.
Gustavo Hamer equalised for Coventry to cancel out a first-half strike from Jordan Clark as the game finished in a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes.
Both goals came after Luton lost captain Tom Lockyer early on after he collapsed on the pitch but the defender was taken to hospital where the club have confirmed he is “responsive and talking” to his family.
Coventry’s Fankaty Dabo blasted the 12th penalty kick of the shootout over the crossbar to send the Hatters to the Premier League for the first time.
Having last been in English football’s top flight in 1992, the year the Premier League began, Luton have waited 31 years to take their place at the top table.
But they were still in the fifth tier only nine years ago after a decade of financial hardship.
And, in becoming the first side to go all the way from the top tier to non-league and back, it completed a remarkable achievement for Luton boss Rob Edwards, who began this season as manager of the Hatters’ fierce local rivals Watford.
Just a year on from managing Forest Green to the League Two title, Edwards won his second successive promotion.
He left Forest Green to take on the Watford job at the end of last season, but was then sacked in late September.
He then returned to management in November when Nathan Jones walked out on Luton for a second time – and Edwards has now masterminded the completion of one of football’s great journeys.
