5 talking points as Jordan Rhodes fires Huddersfield to play-off final

Huddersfield Town are just one game away from the Premier League after beating Luton Town 2-1 on aggregate in the Championship play-offs.

The Terriers sealed a 1-0 win in the second leg thanks to Jordan Rhodes' late goal.

Whilst Luton enjoyed the far better chances throughout the tie they just could not find a way through the home defence and they paid for it when serial goalscorer Rhodes struck late on.

The win moves Carlos Corberan's side to within a remarkable and unexpected Premier League return after three seasons away.

They will now face Nottingham Forest or Sheffield United in the final at Wembley on Sunday, May 29.

Here, Mirror Football looks at five talking points to emerge from the second leg.

Wembley beckons

Just one more game.

That is all that separates Huddersfield from a place in the top table of English football.

It's been an unlikely journey as they move to within a return after three years away. Last season Town finished 20th. The year before, in their first year back in the second tier, they could only manage 18th.

Given those below-par finishes and the fact they did not spend a single penny in the transfer market last summer, few would have expected them to be lining up at Wembley for the Championship's blue riband final later this month.

Home hoodoo ended

The Terriers entered these Championship play-offs with the proud record of being the only one of the four sides to have previously tasted victory in this format.

They also have the distinction of being one of only two teams to have won promotion via the play-offs from all three tiers of the EFL.

But they entered this crucial second leg with a peculiar record in home semi-finals. In nine previous play-off games in West Yorkshire they had never recorded a single victory in 90 minutes, with six draws and three losses.

For a long time it looked as though this match was petering out to a goalless draw.

But super sub Rhodes struck the killer blow inside the final 10 minutes to settle the tie and banish that particular record to the bin.

Rhodes' proves his worth

Once upon a time Jordan Rhodes was one of the hottest properties outside the Premier League.

His goalscoring escapades with Huddersfield earned him a big-money move to Blackburn Rovers. But another move to Middlesbrough and then Sheffield Wednesday saw his stock fall and suddenly his goalscoring exploits became far less frequent.

The game appeared to be leaving Rhodes behind, but a move back to the Terriers last summer appears to reignited his career. A different Rhodes returned, one not all about individual scoring feats but a player willing to contribute to the team even if he had to do that via cameos off the bench.

His side-footed effort from a few yards out on 82 minutes in this tie will not likely make it into his personal highlights' reel when he eventually calls it a day.

But the importance of the strike cannot be underestimated. It was a clinical finish at a crucial juncture in the game and earned Huddersfield another Wembley trip.

Nicholls' shows his value again

Not for the first time this season Huddersfield were indebted to their goalkeeper Lee Nicholls.

He was voted in the Championship team of the season after keeping 18 clean sheets during the regular season (the second-highest tally).

And over the course of the two legs he shone through yet again, especially here where he and Harry Cornick were having something of a personal duel all evening.

Cornick was denied on a number of occasions by a stopper who Huddersfield picked up on a free transfer last summer.

And those saves proved vital as Rhodes' struck late on.

Profligacy costs Hatters

Luton peppered the home goal in the first half, recording eight attempts with five of them on target.

Harry Cornick was guilty of spurning the best of those, when he connected with Kal Naismith's precise centre only to see it kept out by home stopper Lee Nicholls.

Granted, it was a fine reaction stop from Nicholls but Cornick will put it down as a golden chance. In contrast the Terriers could muster just one effort in the first half that had Matt Ingram scrambling.

Luton were bossing the ball after the half too and Cornick again found Nicholls in top form. In the end they just could not find a way through and that profligacy cost them dear.

Plenty of positives for Luton

Luton may have fallen at the semi-final hurdle but they can be mightily proud of their exploits this season.

A club with a bottom-three budget punched above its weight all season to somehow finish in the top six.

It has shown that pounds, shillings and pence cannot be a match for hard work, dedication and togetherness.

Nathan Jones has built a team for Luton fans to be proud of - and they will surely come back stronger next season as they again bid to defy expectations.