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Sheffield United and Luton secure Championship playoff places

Sheffield United and Luton secure Championship playoff places
Sheffield United and Luton Town have secured places in the Championship playoffs at the expense of Middlesbrough and Millwall
Sheffield United and Luton secure Championship playoff places
  • Huddersfield beat Nottingham Forest to third place
  • Playoff-chasing Middlesbrough and Millwall beaten on final day
Harry Cornick (centre) celebrates with Luton teammates after capitalising on an error by the Reading goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland (left).

Sheffield United and Luton Town have secured places in the Championship playoffs at the expense of Middlesbrough and Millwall, the two sides who maintained hope of sneaking into the top six on the final day of the regular season.

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Huddersfield, meanwhile, claimed third place with a 2-0 win against Bristol City as Nottingham Forest dramatically drew 1-1 at Hull. Brennan Johnson’s stoppage-time penalty against the Tigers appeared to have snatched third place for Forest at the last, before Keane Lewis-Potter’s equaliser, two minutes later, denied Steve Cooper’s side.

Despite that late disappointment, Cooper said: “We go into the playoffs feeling really good about ourselves … We wanted to finish third, but to come from bottom of the league to fourth place is great.

“You’ve got to get excited about it. We gave automatic [promotion] a really good go and, by going for that, we secured a playoff place with maybe three or four games to go. It’s an unbelievable achievement and it shows how good these guys have been.”

Forest would have finished above Huddersfield on goal difference had they kept out Hull’s late equaliser. But goals by Harry Toffolo and Danny Ward for the Terriers in their win against Bristol City eventually proved enough to grab third.

Fulham are promoted to the Premier League as champions despite signing off with a 4-0 reverse against the Blades at Bramall Lane, while Bournemouth, having already secured the second automatic promotion place, defeated Millwall 1-0 at Vitality Stadium with a winner from Kieffer Moore.

The resulting lineup for the playoffs is Forest v Sheffield United and Huddersfield v Luton, with the two-legged semi-final ties taking place from 13-17 May. The final will take place at Wembley on Sunday 29 May.

Luton’s 1-0 victory against Reading at Kenilworth Road means they finish five points ahead of seventh-placed Boro, who were beaten 4-1 at Deepdale by Preston North End, with Emil Jakobsen netting twice and Alan Browne and Dael Fry also scoring for the hosts.

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