LONDON: Huddersfield Town returned to the top flight of English football for the first time in 45 years after a dramatic 4-3 penalty shootout win over Reading in the Championship promotion playoff final at Wembley on Monday.

The game finished 0-0 after extra time and Christopher Schindler struck the winning penalty for David Wagner’s side after Reading failed to convert their last two spot-kicks in the nerve-shredding shoot-out.

Huddersfield missed two great chances in the opening 10 minutes when Michael Hefele headed wide and Izzy Brown stabbed wide from point-blank range after Elias Kachunga had slipped the ball across the face of the goal.

But the quality of what had promised to be an exciting game gradually declined as nerves and tiredness began to dominate and the game remained goalless after extra-time.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2017