Manager Nathan Jones crowed “we haven’t stopped yet” after his Luton side beat Reading 1-0 on the final day of the regular season to book their place in the Championship play-offs.
The final game of the regular season saw the injury-hit Hatters with their destiny in their own hands as victory would guarantee their Premier League dream lived on.
It was delivered via a sneaky Harry Cornick winner as the forward hid behind goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland to pinch the ball and embarrass the Norwegian after he’d rolled the ball to kick long.
It proved decisive, though results elsewhere went Luton’s way too, with Middlesbrough and Millwall both losing, rendering Town’s result irrelevant in the scheme of reaching the play-offs, where they’ll face Huddersfield.
But it proved relevant in Jones’ pre-season predication of a 75-point haul to get them there. The manager said: “I won’t play this down in any way, shape or form, because it’s the most wonderful achievement.
“I don’t think anyone’s done it with the resources we have and I’m not sure many have had to contend with what we’ve had to contend with, and still come through.
“I’m so proud of everyone, so proud of the group. We believed from day one that we could do it. We believed we could get to 75 points and said, ‘eight points every five games gets you to 72, then we have a golden game against Reading.’
“If you’ve got something to really play for and you’re at home, with the Kenny rocking, you’d back us.
“But I’m so proud of them and it’s a wonderful achievement for this football club, from where we’ve come from, the journey we’re on to achieve this.
“But, we haven’t stopped yet. This is not the pinnacle, because now we’ve got two massive games to see if we can’t go one step further again.”
Cornick was one of five changes to the side the lost 7-0 at Fulham as the Lononders were coronated as champions on Monday, returning alongside Sonny Bradley, Jordan Clark, Allan Campbell and James Bree, to ease some of Town’s injury woes, though top scorer Elijah Adebayo was still missing.
The visit to Craven Cottage at the start of the week saw the Hatters without nine first-team players, and asked on Sky Sports how his men have reached the play-offs under such trying circumstances, Jones said: “We’re not the most fluent football side. We’ll get there, because we’re on an evolution process.
“Right now, we’re in a position where we’re aggressive, hard to beat, we know what we like to do and want to do.
“Today, we could’ve been two or three up really early on. We had some glorious opportunities and it wasn’t edgy at the end because we knew the other results.
“But to maintain this and to get 75 points over a 46-game season shows that we’ve been absolutely wonderful.
“I’m really proud of the football club, the crowd and especially the players.”
