Watch: Luton profit from horrendous goalkeeper mistake to seal Championship play-off spot
Reading goalkeeper Orjan Hyland inadvertently played a starring role as Luton Town took a play-off spot in Saturday's final Championship games.
Luton needed a victory in order to guarantee sixth place and fight it out for the last promotion berth to the Premier League.
While Middlesbrough's defeat to Preston ultimately meant the Hatters would have made the play-offs in any case, Hyland did his part too by gifting Harry Cornick what proved to be the winner in Saturday's 1-0 victory.
Luton's Cornick hides behind goalkeeper to score cheeky goal (UK only)
Could this be the goal that takes Luton to the play-offs?! 😅🤣pic.twitter.com/Zeeok7ng9Q
— Sky Sports (@SkySports) May 7, 2022
In first half stoppage time, Nyland rolled the ball out of his hands to punt a kick up field - unaware Cornick was stood behind him.
The Luton striker acted quickly, nicking the ball from the Norway international and rolling it into the empty net.
"To be fair, he's rolled it out four or five times and I've thought, 'I'm going to try my luck!'" Cornick told Sky Sports afterwards.
"Fans were screaming 'Man on! Man on! Man on!' and he's not heard them, then it's a tap-in really. Happy to score and contribute. I've never tried it before but I though 'give it a shot' and it's paid off."
Luton will now face Huddersfield in the play-off semi-final, and are potentially three games away from playing in the Premier League for the first time ever.
The Hatters have not played in England's top flight since relegation in 1992, and have fallen as far as the fifth tier of English football and suffered financial collapse in the years since.