Former Luton Town boss David Pleat hailed a “remarkable achievement” by the current side after reaching the Championship play-off final.
Pleat, now 78, led the Hatters in English football’s top flight in the 1980s and 1990s.
“The manager has done wonderfully well, the recruitment is superb,” Pleat told BBC Radio 5 Live Sport.
“They bought players from the lower leagues, brought them into the squad, fought hard and had great spirit.
“What they’re going to do with the big boys, if they get past Middlesbrough or Coventry, we’ll just have to see. Imagine Manchester City coming here.”
Luton trailed 2-1 after the first leg of the play-off semi-final but their intensity, combined with the passionate support of their fans, saw them dominate the second leg at Kenilworth Road, which they won with goals from Gabriel Osho and Wales. International Tom Lockyer.
“Luton played hard and fast, created a bit of chaos in the box. They (Sunderland) couldn’t quite deal with it,” said Pleat, who also played for the club in the 1960s.
“To mark a [second] goal on the eve of half-time was a crushing and demoralizing blow for Sunderland. They really had to stay in the game, as long as possible. You need balance and Sunderland didn’t have the power or the punch.”
Luton felt they will have to spend £10m on their Kenilworth Road at home for next season, should they reach the top flight, before a proposed move to a new stadium at Power Court for 2024-25.
“It’s wonderful for the City. If we can get promotion we always know the City do better when the club do better, so fingers crossed,” chairman David Wilkinson told BBC Three Counties Radio.
“The Premier League means everything. Financially it means we can move faster with all our plans, so that would be great, but down to earth [at the moment].”
“We don’t just want to spend a day at Wembley”
Striker Lockyer said a one-goal first-leg loss was not a bad result in front of a crowd of 46,000 at Wearside.
“Going there and being only a goal behind meant I was absolutely convinced that if we could come here and rock the place and get off to a quick start, we’d be able to do something special – that’ what we could do,” he said.
“We always believed that with a full Kenny (Kenilworth Road) behind us, we would be fine.”
He added: “These are the special nights, these are the ones you remember at the end of your career.
“[But] I now have my eye on the bigger picture, which is that we don’t just want to spend a day at Wembley, we want to go there and do something special.”
Top scorer Carlton Morris told BBC Three Counties Radio the crowd noise was like having a 12th man on the pitch.
“Kenilworth Road on a night like this is amazing, I’ve played here as an opposition player and much prefer to play here as a home player, I’ll tell you for free. It’s brilliant,” said he declared.
“The gaffer is brilliant at instilling confidence in this team, we believe in each other, the staff believed in us and we know the fans believe in us, so we came into this game full of confidence and luckily we have book.
“When you know you have a team of guys who are going to put in the effort that they put in, that breeds confidence. I can’t wait to be at Wembley.”
