Tom Craddock: Scoring for Luton in the JPT final at Wembley was the best moment of my career

Former Town striker Tom Craddock labelled his goal for the Hatters at Wembley in their Johnstone's Paint Trophy final win over Scunthorpe United as the ‘best moment' of his career.

It was 11 years ago to the day that Craddock was on target for Luton, putting them 2-1 in front during a final that the Hatters went on to win 3-2 in extra time courtesy of Claude Gnakpa’s finish.

Speaking exclusively to the Luton News about the occasion, he said: "It was unbelievable, when I’ve been looking at some photos, I came across a photo of me with my hands up in the air, and you can just see thousands of fans behind me.

"It’s just stuff dreams are made of, I had all my friends and my family down, they all came down to watch.

"To do it in front of them, it was unbelievable.

"When you look back at it, it makes me really proud to be honest, to have been able to do it.

"I've got two young sons now, and I don't show them it, but my dad puts it on YouTube, he always shows them, so my little boys, they know who Luton are, and it was just brilliant.

"Making my full debut in the Premier League (for Middlesbrough), scoring for Luton, along with scoring four goals in a game for Oxford, those three things are probably the best moments of my career.

"But scoring a goal in a final at Wembley, that’s the best moment of my career."

Before his own moment of personal glory, Craddock had already set up Chris Martin for Town's leveller on the half hour mark with some exquisite chest control and dink inside to his Town team-mate.

It was the perfect way to begin the game, as he continued: “You always want to start the game and put your mark on the game.

"I pulled on the shoulder of the defender and Rossi (Jarvis) played a great pass to me.

"Chris was playing on the left side, but he made a great run, really intelligent, I found him and he slotted it away, as he has gone on to shown how much of a good finisher he is.

"That was just after Scunthorpe scored, so it was a good start and I was over the moon to get an assist."

For his own strike, Craddock received the ball on the edge of the area with 20 minutes to go, and showing great technique, guided a right footed half volley beyond Iron keeper Joe Murphy and into the bottom corner.

He said: "You want to score at Wembley and play at Wembley, I was buzzing with the assist and then I remember the goal.

"The ball got played out wide to Chris and he cut back on his right, crossed it in, Rossi made a challenge or got a touch and then it just fell to me.

"When I watched it back I wasn't sure why I was on the edge of the box as it was a cross and I should have been in the box.

"But maybe as the ball’s gone past me, I’ve dropped off to find a bit of space and luckily it’s fallen to me and I’ve finished it well, it was a good goal, I’m happy with it.”

Craddock wasn’t on the field when Iron levelled to make it 2-2 through Grant McCann's curving 20-yarder, but he had a great view to see his replacement Gnakpa burst through to win it and seal his place in Town's history.

He added: "I’d come off just before they scored and I was gutted to come off, but I could see why Mick (Harford) did it as he brought Claude on and then Claude ended up getting us the winning goal, so it was the right decision to make.

"It was gutting when McCann scored, it was a great finish as well, and then you're thinking, 'we’re going to be going into extra time time again.'

"I was gutted as I thought I’m not going to be on the pitch to help the lads, but Keano’s played the ball over and Claude’s gone through and scored.

"We had a good celebration on the pitch, in the dressing room and had a good celebration on the night as well.

"Claude was really good in the air, really quick and really, really strong, technically he was pretty good as well.

"He had more of an attacking mind, being from France, he was a little bit different to what the mindset of an English full back was back then.

"I think he’d be different now, as the full back mindset’s different, but he played as a defender earlier in the season and I think he got caught out a little bit.

"Then he was used as a bit of an impact sub and he came on in that game and used his pace and his technical ability to lift it over the keeper.

"It was different class, it was an inspired substitution and a great finish.”

With around 40,000 Town fans making up the majority of the 55,378 in attendance at Wembley that day, Craddock was thrilled to give them a moment of celebration in what was a difficult season, the Hatters relegated into the Conference after being handed a 30-point deduction at the beginning of the campaign.

He added: "I'd signed permanently just before we won the area final on penalties.

"I knew just how big the club was and how loyal the fans were, but I didn’t quite realise until we had the area final and it was just totally different to what the match-days had been.

"I think the fans had been a little bit resigned to us going down and it was a good atmosphere at the ground but it never actually got booming.

"Then when we got into the area final, it was like, 'this is unbelievable!'

"So that took us into the final and then it was just celebration, everyone was absolutely buzzing, I thought 'wow, this is different class, it's a really big club.'

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