Luton secured promotion to the Premier League when they beat Coventry on penalties in the Championship play-off final against at Wembley on Saturday.
The tension reached unbearable heights as all of the first 11 penalties flew into the net in the shootout until Fankaty Dabo stepped up and sent his effort sailing high over the bar.
His miss saw Luton win the shootout 6-5, booking their place in the top-flight for the first time in 31 years after what was a hectic match.
The game got off to a lively start when defender Gabriel Osho had a goal for Luton disallowed just six minutes in.
They took the lead less than 20 minutes later, however, when Elijah Adebayo shook off Kyle McFadzean’s challenge before cutting back for Jordan Clark to fire in the opener.
Coventry went on to dominate the second half and their persistence paid off when Viktor Gyokeres was sent down the wing and cut back to Gustavo Hamer on the edge of the box for him to send it past Ethan Horvath, forcing extra time.
Joseph Taylor thought he had wrapped things up late in the second half of extra time, but his goal was disallowed because the ball touched his hand after he won the ball off Jonathan Panzo, sending it to penalties.
While Clark was the man who got the opening goal, Adebayo was a constant threat for Luton.
His close control, strength on the ball and good movement helped him create the opener but he was always on the lookout for a direct route to goal that made him a big problem for Coventry.
He came close to scoring a goal of his own on two occasions in the first half.
First, he made an attempt from the middle of the Coventry box just five minutes after the opener but it went just wide, then a failed Coventry clearance bounced off of him and in but it was disallowed for a handball.
After 11 perfect penalties, Dabo will be devastated that it was he who made the decisive error.
The goals kept coming but someone was going to miss eventually and unfortunately for Dabo, he missed the target by a big distance – a horrific memory he will take some time to shake off.
Luton’s incredible rise continues. It was only nine years ago they were in the Conference League but they have crawled their way all the way up to the Premier League.
Coventry, meanwhile, will have to spend at least one more year in the Championship.
