Luton turn tables on Sunderland to reach Championship playoff final

Nine thousand home fans sounded like a dozen times the number and it will be a wonder if, upon waking up on Wednesday, any Luton supporter inside Kenilworth Road will have the capacity to vocalise exactly how this felt. They were climbing out of the National League nine years ago and now one of the Championship’s supposed minnows stands a game from the top flight.

Wembley will pulsate to the awesome energy and running power of Rob Edwards’ remarkable team; Coventry or Middlesbrough will have to deal with them more effectively than Sunderland, whose manager Tony Mowbray watched a depleted side run out of steam. Gabe Osho and Tom Lockyer gave Luton an aggregate lead with goals from set pieces in the first half; they barely allowed their opposition a sniff after that and the emotions poured out liberally at full time.

Their celebrations were raucous but the atmosphere had been fevered from the outset. Luton had unexpectedly gained a taste for this stage a year ago, ultimately losing to Huddersfield after drawing the first leg here, but Wembley was potentially only 90 minutes away this time. If the noise during the teams’ warm-ups was notable the din verged on startling when they re-emerged to kick off, the very foundations of this eccentric old venue seeming to rock.

This was bruising fare played out in a visceral environment, every decision howled for and every challenge contested thuddingly during a frantic opening. Luton had a single-goal deficit to overhaul and knew that, if they pressured a makeshift Sunderland defence more intensely than at the Stadium of Light, they might do so.

It took them 10 minutes to succeed. The award of a left-sided corner brought portentous roars and, when it was swung in by Jordan Clark, a