Should Luton drop out of the Football League this season - they are still 11 points adrift of safety - then they certainly said goodbye with a bang.

They brought an incredible 40,000 fans down the M1 to Wembley - a defiant showing from a club deducted 30 points by the FA and Football League at the start of the season for financial irregularities.

Gary Hooper fired Scunthorpe, who are 42 places above in the League One play-off spots, into an early lead but Chris Martin dragged Luton level before the interval.

Tom Craddock, Luton's £80,000 bargain buy from Middlesbrough, then put the Hatters in front only for Grant McCann to conjure up a stunning equaliser three minutes from the end of normal time.

But in the 95th minute, Gnakpa raced through to lob Scunthorpe goalkeeper Joe Murphy and cap a fairytale journey for the beleaguered Bedfordshire club.

Harford believes Luton's win could signal a new dawn for the troubled club.

"It is hopefully the start of a new era for Luton Town Football Club," said the Hatters manager.

"We have had it tough, and without our investors the club would have been dead - there would have been no Wembley today.

"It's a great day in the history of Luton Town."

Scunthorpe boss Nigel Adkins gathered his disappointed players in a post-match huddle, and told them to get ready to return in a month for the League One play-off final.

"The story of our season has been giving away poor goals and we gave away three," he said.

"Credit to Luton, I congratulate Mick Harford and his team, but we have to learn from this negative experience and use it in a positive way.

"I made sure they will remember this because it's not nice. There are a few tears because we have lost a cup final.

"But we will draw a blue line under it and make sure we come back to Wembley in the play-off final - and make sure we win."