Huddersfield Town's dream of Premier League promotion dashed by Nottingham Forest

Huddersfield Town's dream of winning promotion to the Premier League has been shattered after losing 1-0 to Nottingham Forest in the Championship playoff final at Wembley.

The club has tweeted expressing their heartache, but assuring fans; "we'll come again, we always do".

Our sports reporter Jonathan Brown was at Wembley and sent us this match report:

An own goal and a failed penalty appeal left Huddersfield Town’s legion of travelling fans frustrated on their first trip to Wembley in five years.

More than 80,000 people packed into the national stadium for the Championship Play-Off Final - a game that has been dubbed the richest game in football, worth around £170 million to the victor.

Huddersfield came into the game hoping to emulate the Terriers side of 2017, who earned promotion to the Premier League by beating Reading on penalties.In fact, the West Yorkshire side had failed to score in three of their last four Wembley appearances before today.

Nottingham Forest were hoping to gain promotion to the top flight after a 23-year absence. But they came into the match having never before reached a Play-Off Final.

After a cagey opening 10 minutes, it was Forest who began to assert their authority on the game.

Ryan Yates came close with an early header  after he latched on to a wide free kick delivered by James Garner but he couldn’t hit the target.

Yates again pushed forward eight minutes later but, after reaching the edge of the Huddersfield penalty area, could only blaze over the bar.

The Terriers meanwhile looked dangerous on the break, with Sorba Thomas and Lewis O’Brien proving good outlets although they struggled to create any clear chances in the opening exchanges.

Thomas continued to be a threat late on in the first half, driving forward to fizz in a cross that Forest goalkeeper Brice Samba parried away from danger on 34 minutes.

A clever corner routine four minutes later yielded Huddersfield’s first shot. Thomas’ low delivery was directed goalwards by Danny Ward but his effort was deflected wide.

But it was Forest who struck first. James Garner was urged to shoot by the red half of Wembley and he obliged from outside the box. His low effort was deflected into the top corner of the Terriers’ goal by the unfortunate Levi Colwill to make it 1-0 going into the break.

After half time, the Terriers began streaming forward in a bid to get level. Ten minutes into the second half, Jonathan Hogg came close with a glancing header from a corner but couldn’t keep it from going over.

The Terriers thought they should have had a penalty after 72 minutes when Harry Toffolo went down in the Forest area - but instead, the referee carded the Town defender for diving - to the dismay of the blue half of the stadium. The decision was reviewed by the video assistant referee but the decision wasn’t changed.

Town had another penalty appeal waved away seven minutes from time when Lewis O’Brien felt he was fouled in the box. Referee Jon Moss again was unimpressed.

The midfielder had one last chance to change the game in injury time but could only put his shot wide of the post.

The result comes a year after Huddersfield finished 20th in the Championship but after an immense turnaround on the pitch this season, a return to the Premier League was a step too far.