Osho and Lockyer ship Luton into play-off closing as Sunderland miss out
The Hatters delighted a loud crowd at Kenilworth Road as first-half targets from defenders Gabe Osho and Tom Lockyer gave them victory over the Wearsiders.
It proved sufficient for Rob Edwards’ workforce to beat a 2-1 first-leg deficit and seal a 3-2 combination success.
A Wembley closing in opposition to Coventry or Middlesbrough awaits on May 27, with Luton focusing on a return to English top-flight soccer after a 31-year absence.
The Hatters bought the breakthrough they wanted within the tenth minute when Osho tapped dwelling from shut vary after the guests did not clear a Jordan Clark nook.
Sunderland got here near an equaliser three minutes later when Pierre Ekwah noticed a flicked effort from Patrick Roberts’ nook saved by Ethan Horvath. The midfielder was sharpest to the rebound however his effort struck the woodwork and penalty appeals from the guests got here to nothing.
Luton got here near a second when Luke O’Nien cleared a Carlton Morris effort off the road after Anthony Patterson failed to carry Alfie Doughty’s cross. The dwelling facet threatened once more when Morris drew a full-length save from Patterson, who was relieved to see Lockyer’s header drop simply broad of his put up seconds later.
Morris fired simply broad following good work by Elijah Adebayo because the hosts sought to go forward within the tie, and so they did simply that 5 minutes later when Lockyer took benefit of area to move Doughty’s cross previous Patterson.
Morris had an incredible likelihood to make it 3-0 inside 30 seconds of the second-half getting underway when Patterson mis-kicked the ball to him, however the striker blazed over.
This was proving a recreation too far for a Sunderland facet ravaged by harm, significantly in defence, within the closing phases of the marketing campaign – though Aji Alese returned from harm as the sport’s first substitute within the 58th minute.
The contest was turning into stretched and Alese produced a well timed problem quickly after to disclaim Adebayo as he lined up a shot, earlier than Roberts rounded off a promising run with a weak shot broad.
The similar participant fired over with 14 minutes remaining because the Black Cats, who completed 11 factors behind their opponents, sought to take the sport to additional time.
But they hardly ever regarded like doing so, with Luton’s Cody Drameh the closest to scoring within the closing phases, firing broad of an empty aim in added time after Patterson had come up for a nook.
The closing whistle signalled joyous celebrations from nearly all of the ten,013 crowd, together with a large-scale pitch invasion.