Huddersfield Town 1-0 Luton Town (agg: 2-1): FLW report as Rhodes sends Huddersfield to Wembley | OneFootball

Huddersfield Town booked their place in the Championship play-off final with Jordan Rhodes’ late goal securing them a 1-0 win over Luton Town.

Rhodes was only called into action due to Danny Ward’s first-half injury, but the fan favourite found himself in the right place at the right time on 82 minutes to convert Sorba Thomas’ pinpoint free-kick.

Victory leaves Carlos Corberan’s side just 90 minutes away from a Premier League return, with only Nottingham Forest or Sheffield United standing in the way of a fairytale end to the season.

Pre-match, Nathan Jones was his usual bundle of energy on the sidelines, Sky cameras catching the Luton boss bouncing up and down, pumped ahead of kick-off.

He watched on as Luton made a committed start, swarming forward in numbers as Jordan Clark, Allan Campbell and Robert Snodgrass overran Jon Russell time after time.

Lee Nicholls denied Harry Cornick from close range and then parried a tricky Snodgrass shot. Campbell turned a corner the wrong side of the post, with Luton’s start only lacking a breakthrough.

Matt Ingram had breezed through the early exchanges but when he did have something to do, the emergency loanee did it well. A strong left hand stopped Harry Toffolo’s shot breaking the deadlock after the wing-back roamed in-field.

Ward hobbling out of the contest on 41 minutes contributed to what was a tricky watch for Corberan.

There was an improvement after the interval with Corberan, presumably, able to give his side a version of the hairdryer treatment.

Tom Lees nodded Toffolo’s cross over and Danel Sinani’s shot was held by Ingram.

Luton’s threat remained, largely through Cornick, who brought another save out of Nicholls in-front of the travelling Hatters support.

Huddersfield fans, meanwhile, were furious when Toffolo was denied a penalty as Ingram grabbed at his leg in a frantic passage that also saw the goalkeeper keep out Pipa’s shot; this entire tie has had controversy at every corner and only fuelled the debate as to why VAR will be used at Wembley but not in the games leading to the national stadium.

However, that was quickly forgotten about as Corberan’s two substitutes combined. Thomas with a trademark free-kick on the money, Rhodes with a trademark finish on the shoulder of Amari’i Bell.

Huddersfield’s Cowshed had unveiled a banner before the game reading “TIME FOR NEW HEROES” as they look ahead to returning to the scene of their famous play-off final win of 2017.

In Rhodes’ case, he’s not exactly a new hero, but he’s writing a fresh chapter in his Huddersfield story and, at this point, there won’t be a more popular man in this West Yorkshire town.

Huddersfield Town, Wembley bound.