Luton's win

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

I read that each team were (only) allocated 37,500 tickets.  This is never enough for such a critical game.

There were 85,000 there.  

Quoted from RichMariner

I went to the Luton v Coventry match on Saturday, and a few things stood out for me having witnessed the game in person:

• First touch is everything at that level
  Referee Michael Oliver is so far ahead of what we get in L2 it's unreal
  VAR, while delivering correct decisions on a technical level, still feels like it ruins things
  

On that last point, because I was sat in the Luton end, we genuinely thought the game had been won late in extra time. I didn't see the handball with the naked eye (neither did any of the Coventry players) and so when it was chalked off, even as a neutral, it felt absolutely gutting.

I can't imaging celebrating a significant goal like that for Town, and then having that moment ruined. And I know, over time, fans will likely hold back their celebrations for fear that VAR might yet intervene — because it will, even if everyone in the ground, including the opposition, appears to accept it as legit.

It's fair to say Luton play direct, but they did it so well. Their 'out' ball was far more precise than what we see in L2, and they played with two strikers, Morris and Adebayo. They stick very close to one another and work as a pair, without one being the 'big man' and the other the 'small man'.

Also — and I know the vast majority of football fans already feel this way — I'd never witnessed a shoot-out at Wembley before, and it was horrendous. Although I wanted Luton to win, the poor Coventry lad who missed was devastated. Seeing all the Luton players and staff run past him in that moment of celebration looked so cruel against the backdrop of 85,000 fans and all those cameras.

I know there are going to be heroes and villains in every match but it would've made it just that little bit better if the keeper had saved it, rather than him blasting over the bar. Such a horrible way to decide a football match, but I guess it remains the best way given the lack of alternatives that have been suggested over the years.

I really enjoyable match, though. I've read online that a lot of people weren't blown away by the quality but, witnessing it first hand, it's far, far better than the quality I saw in L2 (which may be stating the obvious). And while I've watched hundreds of matches, they've usually been local non-league games, when it's not been Grimsby, so being part of an 85,000 crowd at Wembley with the stakes so high was a relatively new experience for me.