Luton Town have recorded a 2-0 victory over Sunderland to reach the Championship playoff final, prevailing 3-2 on aggregate.
Trailing 2-1 after the first leg, Luton were in front by half time of the reverse fixture at Kenilworth Road, Gabriel Osho and Tom Lockyer getting the goals.
Although Rob Edwards's side could not make their dominance count after the break, they restricted their opponents to few opportunities in order to progress through to a Wembley date with either Middlesbrough or Coventry City.
Having started brightly at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, Luton soon let slip of control of proceedings, but it would not be the same occurrence three days later.
Luton went ahead in the 10th minute, their greater height and physicality causing problems at set pieces throughout the evening and it was Osho who benefitted on this occasion by prodding home from close range.
While Sunderland reacted by going on the front foot, Luton were a threat on each occasion that they ploughed forward and Elijah Adebayo had a close-range effort cleared off the line amid more chaos in the penalty area.
Lockyer heads home! pic.twitter.com/3cHgP81Uq2
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) May 16, 2023
Black Cats goalkeeper Anthony Patterson did superbly to prevent a Carlton Morris header from finding the bottom corner, but the England Under-21 international was powerless to stop Luton doubling their lead.
After Sunderland failed to sufficiently clear a corner, Alfie Doughty whipped a second ball into the area for Lockyer to glance a header into the far corner.
The second half continued like the first, Sunderland having to clear multiple shots and crosses out of the six-yard box and off the line, and up until 20 minutes left, only a dragged Patrick Roberts effort threatened to level the tie on aggregate.
Roberts curled a shot from a greater distance marginally off target closer towards full time, but Tony Mowbray's side were unable to test Ethan Horvath in the Luton goal.
There were still some frayed nerves in added-on time, particularly as Cody Drameh missed an open goal with Patterson stranded at the other end of the pitch, but Luton were able to get over the line, going some way to making up for the semi-final defeat versus Huddersfield Town 12 months ago.
Darren Plant
