Hylton thought it was written for him be the Wembley hero for Luton

Former Luton striker Danny Hylton thought it was written in the stars that he was going to be the one to take Luton to the Premier League last season.

The 33-year-old, who had been with the Hatters since the beginning of their rise up the footballing echelon, joining in 2016 when the club were in League Two, had enjoyed his most prolific second tier campaign for the club, nothing four goals in 20 appearances.

With Town then finishing sixth and facing Huddersfield in the play-offs, an injury to top scorer Elijah Adebayo meant Hylton came off the bench in the latter stages of the first leg which finished 1-1, before starting the second at the John Smith’s Stadium in place of Cameron Jerome.

Despite netting four of his five shots on target previously, the striker didn’t get a clear sight of goal in his 65 minutes on the field, making way for Jerome, with what turned out to be his final outing in a Hatters shirt.

The same couldn’t be said for his team-mates, Harry Cornick denied by Terriers keeper Lee Nicholls from close range, while there were a number of other near misses, Cornick seeing another effort saved, Amari’i Bell and Jerome both heading wide too.

Hylton could then only watch from the sidelines as experienced forward Jordan Rhodes showed Town how it was done, converting at the back post to take the hosts through the final, where they were beaten by Nottingham Forest.

It ruined what Luton’s now departed fans favourite believed was going to be his moment, saying: “I thought it was written, ‘I’m going to score at Wembley, I’m going to be in the Premier League which is unbelievable.”

“But the highest that Luton have been in their recent history (sixth place) and being part of that, being involved in that was lovely.

“I used to watch the Championship play-offs and think what an unbelievable occasion that is and just never even dreamed I would play in that or get to that level, so to do that was amazing.

"I was gutted that we didn’t do it as against Huddersfield, obviously I’m biased, but I thought we deserved it.

“Going away, we missed two, three, four chances, which if we could have taken them, the Corny chance, I don’t know how he’s missed that, I’d have scored that!

"I’m only messing, but you just think, you’re that close and if we’d had scored it would have been a completely different game, but we gave it everything that year and we just fell short.”

Hylton had indeed played a big part in Luton finishing inside the top six with his four goals over the course of the campaign.

Starting at Bristol City in September, he came off the bench to turn home Carlos Mendes Gomes' cross from a few yards out in stoppage time and finally realise his dream of scoring a first second tier goal.

He continued: “It was nice, a bit of a slow time because of injuries and it was hard to get back into rhythm as the team was doing so well, so it was tough.

"But it was nice to come on and personally was nice to get a first Championship goal as it was something that I always wanted to do.

"Also to contribute to the team, it got us a draw that day, got us a result, so it was good,

"The fans were brilliant that day, but personally it was nice to get that duck off my back, if that is the saying?

"I got the duck off my back that day, it was nice, and I could relax a little bit.”

Hylton then followed that up by putting Luton on their way to a 2-1 win at Stoke City in February, before the moment that all supporters wanted, a first home goal in almost three when he picked up Cameron Jerome’s knock-down and found the bottom corner as Derby were defeated 1-0 at Kenilworth Road.

Although he bagged one more, that in a 1-1 draw with Peterborough, he had been thrilled to finally notch on home soil once more, adding: “It wasn’t even something I was thinking about and then after the game, I don’t know who mentioned it and I thought, I probably didn’t appreciate it enough at the time because you’re in the game.

“It was nice to contribute but when big CJ goes up for a header, he’s got the sharpest elbows in the world.

"He’s the strongest man alive, so you just have to make runs and people with CJ’s quality, nine times out of 10 he’s going to win a header.

"You just have to get yourself into a position where you can receive the ball and try and score.

"So credit to Cam, it’s not about me, but there’s a couple of nice angles on the goal.

"There’s a nice one from behind the goal, as I’m shooting you can see, even before the ball goes in, you can see the crowd go up and it was a really nice moment.

"Again, it’s not about me though, it’s about the team winning the game and taking a step towards something we wanted to achieve and we believed we could achieve.”