Town earned a second tilt at a chance of playing in the Premier League by finishing in the top six again at the end of the 2021-22 season. Once again the club had been written off at the start of the season as the usual relegation fodder and with good reason having struggled to survive over the previous two Covid-hit seasons. The club had also been saddled with over-expensive under-achieving assets – I am reluctant to use the word “players” because the majority of them simply didn’t qualify under the Trades Description Act! Anyway, having finally swept away the dead wood over summer 2021, Head Coach Carlos Corberán and recruitment chief Leigh Bromby set about creating a squad of genuine, hard-working, lower-league combatants who were both fit and willing to fight for the cause. They were also all free agents and a couple of loan deals. After a poor start and with last season’s sub-standard goalkeeper still in situ, Town slowly got their act together so that by the turn of the year even the most critical of fans was beginning to dream. That the team spent only one game outside the top six in 2022 was testament to the hard yards being put in by everyone. An eventual finish of 3rd – their highest ever Championship (but not Second Division) finish – meant that Town had to pit their collective wits against Luton Town in the two-legged semi-final.
Play-Off Semi-Final 1st Leg: Luton Town (a): Friday, 13th May
In a very tight game of distinctly contrasting styles Town were denied what appeared to be a clear penalty within the first 15 seconds as Toffolo was pushed to the floor, but the referee waved away all appeals. Luton grew into the game before Sinani fired into the bottom corner after an excellent, quick counter-attack (with his standing foot too!). Luton continued to press and equalised from a very soft free-kick, before being denied their own penalty as Sarr tangled with Jerome. It seems to me that both penalty incidents show just how much Premier League referees rely on VAR as both would surely have been awarded using that system. The second half saw Town’s controlled possession game in the ascendancy as Luton continued to simply lump it long, high, hard and wrestle everything that moved. Ingram’s goal was never seriously troubled in the second half and, in truth, he had been a spectator just about all game as Luton’s giant defenders won everything in their box, whilst at the other end Town ‘keeper Nicholls received dogs’ abuse for running down the clock at goal-kicks. And so it was that after a game where Town maintained their record of never having lost a first leg (now standing at TEN games), it remained all to play for in the second leg.
The first minute penalty incident is inexplicably not included in the official highlights below, but you can see it HERE.
Play-Off Semi-Final 2nd Leg: Luton Town (h): Monday, 16th May
Town finally ended their home leg hoodoo by winning in 90/120 minutes for the first time at the tenth attempt. In truth Town couldn’t have complained if Luton had been three up by half-time were it not for their own wastefulness and the excellence of ‘keeper Nicholls. Town simply weren’t at the races and were strangely subdued as they lapsed into the dreadfully slow approach that has dogged them every now and then, but after the break they changed it up a few gears. Tom Lees had a header disallowed for a soft foul by Colwill and Toffolo had yet another blatant penalty turned down. Luton’s cynical, targeted fouling of O’Brien showed them to be taking a leaf out of the Manchester City ‘Book of Tactical Fouling’ by ‘doing‘ him in our half of the pitch every time he tried to run out with the ball, but bizarrely it was when they took out Hogg further up the pitch that really hurt them. Thomas’s 82nd minute free-kick dead-ball delivery was inch perfect for fox in the box Rhodes to slide in at the back post. Cue absolute mayhem on the terraces! Incidentally, Rhodes’ goal was scored almost ten years to the day after he had last scored a Play-Offs goal for the club – 15th May 2012, MK Dons 2nd leg, a feat which echoes that of Iffy Onuora.
On to Wembley…
Play-Off Final: Nottingham Forest, Wembley Stadium: Sunday, 29th May
And so it came down to the Final at Wembley. It was an uninspiring game played by two teams clearly affected by nerves, who were both well below par, and was decided by a Levi Colwill own goal just two minutes before half-time. Town improved dramatically in the second half – they couldn’t have been any less negative – but were finally beaten not by Nottingham Forest, but by referee Jon Moss and VAR referee Paul Tierney who both turned a blind-eye to two stonewall Town penalties. I don’t mind Moss missing both as he only has a split-second and one view of each incident, but to have VAR show that there definitely was contact – something to which Forest defender Colback owned up afterwards in interviews – and still decided not give it was scandalous in a game of this magnitude. VAR didn’t even look at Lowe’s challenge on O’Brien which was even more obvious! That’s what rankles – why have VAR and not use it?
Over the three Play-Off ties Town were privileged to have been refereed by three of the Premier League’s finest – four if you include Paul Tierney, the VAR ref – and were denied FIVE penalties (two at Luton, one in the second leg and two at Wembley) which all of the press and pundits/experts agreed should have been awarded. If that’s the best that the Premier League and VAR has to offer then it was probably a good thing that Town stayed down in the EFL, in a League in which they are allowed to compete, because clearly the Premier League did not want us in it.
The Huddersfield Town Collection 