Luton Town went into Saturday’s match against Reading with just two points separating themselves from Middlesbrough for the final spot in the EFL Championship promotion play-off. So while much of the pressure was on Middlesbrough, a Luton win over Reading would have sixth place locked up for the Hatters.
That made Harry Cornick’s crafty goal all the more remarkable.
In stoppage time at the end of the first half, Cornick noticed that Reading goalkeeper Orjan Nyland had been rolling the ball out without properly checking for Luton players. So, Cornick figured he’d give hiding behind Nyland a try and see what happened.
And, oh man, the trick worked to perfection. Nyland rolled the ball out without realizing that Cornick was behind him, and Cornick converted on the tap-in goal. It was a goalkeeping blunder that you almost never see happen, and it came at a crucial time for Luton.
We love Harry Cornick!💙🧡
GOAL!!!!!
1-0 Luton! pic.twitter.com/Qs0R65pETN
— dianne jolly (@diannejolly1) May 7, 2022
The goal ended up being the difference in the match as Luton won, 1-0. After the game, Cornick said that the crowd even tried to warn Nyland, but the Reading keeper didn’t hear the supporters.
"I thought I'm just going to try my luck and hide behind him" 🤷
Harry Cornick takes us through THAT Luton goal that has taken them to the play-offs 🤣🙌 pic.twitter.com/bsAl0ehBl7
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) May 7, 2022
Soccer fans couldn’t believe that idea from Cornick actually worked.