Background
This was Coventry City's second play-off final, the first being a 3–1 win against Exeter City in the 2018 League Two play-off final. [8] They had last played in the Premier League in the 2000–01 season, when they were relegated to the Championship (then known as Football League Division One). [8] Aside from the 2018 match, the club's prior visits to Wembley Stadium included the 1987 FA Cup final against Tottenham Hotspur, which Coventry won 3–2 after extra time, a defeat in their Charity Shield game against Everton the same year, and the 2017 EFL Trophy final in which they defeated Oxford United. [9] Luton had appeared in one play-off final before this match – the 2012 Conference Premier play-off final, which they lost 2–1 to York City. [10] Luton had not played in the top flight since 1992, when defeat on the final day of the season meant they were relegated while Coventry stayed up. [10] [11] In addition to the 2012 play-off final, Luton had completed seven other matches at Wembley before this one, including wins over Arsenal in the 1988 Football League Cup final and Scunthorpe in the 2009 Football League Trophy final, as well as five defeats. [12] During the regular season, both matches between the two clubs finished in draws – a 2–2 result at Kenilworth Road in September 2022, followed by a 1–1 match at the Coventry Building Society Arena the following February. [13] [14] [15] Gyökeres was Coventry's highest scorer with 21 goals while Luton's top marksman was Carlton Morris with 20. [16]
Coventry manager, Mark Robins described the final as "one for the romantics" due to the rise of both teams from the lower tiers of English football, both clubs having been in League Two as recently as the 2017–18 season. [17] Robins's Luton counterpart Rob Edwards echoed this sentiment before the match, noting the two clubs' recent history meant it was "not the play-off final people would have picked at the beginning of the season" while expressing his happiness that Luton could now "spend time in this position at the right end of the table". [18]
The final was refereed by Michael Oliver, with Stuart Burt and Lee Betts as his assistants, and Graham Scott the fourth official. From 2022, the EFL had announced that the video assistant referee (VAR) system would be used at all play-off finals, and Andre Marriner was appointed in this role with Richard West his assistant. [19] [20]
Success in the final was estimated by the accountancy company Deloitte to be worth £170 million to the winning team over the next three seasons. [21]
Summary
The match kicked off at 4:45 p.m. in front of a crowd 85,711, with more than 36,000 supports of each of the two teams present. [22] [23] [24] Luton had the better of the opening phase of the match, and thought they'd scored after five minutes when Osho put the ball into the net from close range, but it was ruled out for offside. They suffered a setback on 10 minutes when their captain, Lockyer, collapsed while running off the ball, and had to be substituted. [25] Lockyer was taken to hospital and had to undergo heart surgery. [26] Luton's Morris had two chances to score on 14 and 20 minutes, before his side took the lead on 23 minutes. [25] Adebayo received possession from a long ball forward and ran with it, beating Coventry defender Kyle McFadzean twice before passing to Jordan Clark who scored. [22] Luton continued to dominate play in the minutes after their goal and had several opportunities to extend their lead. On 29 minutes, Adebayo missed a chance following a blocked Morris shot and, on 41 minutes, Luton had a goal disallowed when the ball went into the Coventry goal off Adebayo's arm following a Callum Doyle goal-line clearance. [25] [27] Luton's dominance waned towards the end of the half: Hamer had Coventry's first significant chance of the match on 43 minutes when he headed the ball over the crossbar following Jake Bidwell's cross, and they earned a free kick in an attacking position during stoppage time but Luton's goalkeeper Ethan Horvath was able to claim the ball. [21] [27]
Coventry brought on Matt Godden at half time, in place of Jamie Allen, adopting a more attacking formation. [21] Their defender Luke McNally was booked early in the second half for a foul on Adebayo. Coventry began to dominate in the early stages of the half, earning a corner on 49 minutes and Gyökeres having a chance a minute later when he toed the ball past Osho and Horvath but he was unable to reconnect with the ball in front of the goal. [27] Liam Kelly then had a chance for Coventry shortly afterwards, but his shot went over the crossbar. [22] Coventry equalised on 66 minutes when Gyökeres ran down the left side of the field before crossing it for Hamer, scored past Horvath into the bottom-right corner of the goal. [22] [21] Gyökeres had a chance to give Coventry the lead on 73 minutes when he received the ball near the penalty spot, but his shot was too high. A minute later, Hamer sustained an ankle injury when landing on the ground and he eventually had to be substituted by Robins, Kasey Palmer replacing him. [27] There were some chances for both sides in the remainder of the half, including one by Godden, who shot over the crossbar after receiving the ball from Gyökeres close to the penalty spot. [22] [21] There were eight minutes of stoppage time at the end of the second half with both teams trying to find a winning goal, but neither were successful. With the game finishing 1–1 after 90 minutes, it went to extra time. [21]
Coventry started extra time with a long-range shot by Gyökeres which was saved by Horvath and then had an attacking free kick following a foul by Onyedinma, but it came to nothing. [22] [28] McNally then fouled Morris to give Luton a free kick but Coventry cleared it. [29] Nine minutes into extra time, Clark ended up on the ground after competing for the ball with Wilson in the Coventry penalty area. He appealed for a penalty, but instead received a yellow card for diving. VAR confirmed that there was no penalty. [22] [29] The second half of extra time saw fewer chances as the players became tired, and on 24 minutes, Doyle had to be substituted with an injury, Jonathan Panzo coming on in his place. [29] Panzo made an error with his first touch of the ball, and Joe Taylor took advantage to score what he thought was Luton's second goal past Wilson. After a VAR check, however, the goal was ruled out as Taylor was adjudged to have committed a hand ball prior to scoring. [21] Luton had one more change in stoppage time, but Berry headed it wide and the game went to a penalty shoot-out. [29]
The first five kicks for each side were scored – Morris, Taylor, Marvelous Nakamba, Clark and Luke Berry scoring for Luton and Godden, Gyökeres, Ben Sheaf, Josh Eccles and Kelly for Coventry. This took the shoot-out to sudden death. Dan Potts scored again for Luton but Fankaty Dabo then missed for Coventry, sealing a 6–5 shoot-out win for Luton and promotion to the Premier League. [29]
