Hats off to Luton Town
It has been dubbed as the greatest modern day Wembley final, with one of the finest scripts since Shakespeare.
06 Apr 2009
The Johnstone's Paint Trophy final was a glorious spectacle of football at its very best, with Luton Town edging out Scunthorpe United in a five goal extra time thriller.
Johnstone's aim was to bring colour to the beautiful game. In fact, it delivered so much more besides in a glorious reminder of how football can warm the heart like no other sport.
For Luton Town and their record breaking 40,000 followers, their day was splashed with drama, delight and sheer disbelief as their side fought back from a goal down to eventually win 3-2 in extra time.
Not many would have predicted that scoreline after 15 minutes when Scunthorpe, vying for promotion to the Championship, went ahead through leading marksman Gary Hooper.
The clinical finish pointed towards an afternoon of joy for the 12,000 travelling Iron fans, but while Luton manager Mick Harford might not want to admit it, the goal appeared to be the perfect tonic for his side, as they began to fight back.
Led by their indefatigable captain Kevin Nicholls and the infectious industry of all around him, the Hatters hit back in style when Chris Martin coolly slotted home to cap a swift counter attacking move.
The second half was similarly punctuated with moments of quality. Tom Craddock looked to have won the game when he smacked home a late goal in front of thousands of jubilant fans, but Scunthope were not finished.
Chris McCann curled home a wonderful goal which has been described as one of the finest efforts ever seen at the new look Wembley to take the game to extra time.
And no sooner had the game gone into the added period, than the most unlikely of heroes was found in the shape of Frenchman Claude Gnakpa.
The defender turned striker expertly lobbed home after exploiting some hesitation in Scunthorpe's rear guard.
And after some close shaves and nerve wracked moments, Luton held firm to etch an amazing day into their proud history.
Manager Mick Harford said: "What a tremendous game of football, in a tremendous competition. "Two teams tried to play the game the right way.
It was tense, exciting and at the end of the day, I thought we deserved it.
Johnstones. Bringing colour to the beautiful game.
