Luton Town crowned EFL Trophy champions after beating Stockport at Wembley

Luton Town have won the EFL Trophy after beating Stockport County 3-1 in the final at Wembley Stadium.

Adama Sidibeh had put Stockport ahead, but goals by Emilio Lawrence and Nahki Wells saw Luton come from behind to lead at half-time before a second from Wells late on finished the job.

Victory in the competition is Luton’s second time winning the competition, with the Bedfordshire club having famously won it in 2008-09.

The clash between two sides called the Hatters brought together two League One sides, with Luton having taken a much more unusual route to the final. Luton had lost to Swindon Town in the round of 16 in mid-January, but were reinstated when Swindon were expelled for fielding two ineligible players.

A bumper allocation of 30,000 Luton fans made the trip down to Wembley, with the Hatters hoping for success on their first visit to the national stadium since beating Coventry there in the Championship play-off final 3 years ago.

But the game’s opening goal came Stockport’s way in the 11th minute. Odin Bailey slipped it through for Sidibeh, who held off Kal Naismith before chipping Luton keeper James Shea to put Stockport in front.

Luton were nearly gifted an equaliser a few moments later when Stockport defender Ethan Pye beat Wells to Naismith’s cross, only to head it off his own post with Stockport keeper Corey Addai left a spectator.

Jack Wilshere’s side persisted, however, and they would equalise ten minutes after falling behind. Stockport lost possession in midfield and Luton duly advanced before Jordan Clark fed Lawrence, who got the ball through Addai’s legs and into the back of the net.

Luton would continue to show positive play and they took the lead after 39 minutes. Veteran striker Wells was picked out by Naismith and the former Bristol City striker took one touch to control and another to dispatch the shot home.

The best chances in the second half fell the way of Stockport as Dave Challinor’s side chased the game, with Josh Stokes seeing one strike just go wide of the target and the same man had another effort was well saved by Shea.

Nerves could’ve easily been a present factor for Luton, not least when the fourth official’s board went up to signal ten minutes of added time at the end of the game.

But in the first minute of those added on, Luton grabbed a third to seal the win and the trophy. Wells would grab it, as he was first to a rushed clearance from Shayden Morris’ cross before he was able to thread the ball home in front of the Luton fans.

The result was a victory for the Hatters, who lifted the trophy and take the acclaim from their fans.

Luton’s attention now turns to seeing if they can make up the gap to the play-offs. With 5 games of their season remaining, Luton are 6 points off the play-offs, and their next stage in trying to climb back into the top 6 sees them host struggling Northampton on Wednesday.