Huddersfield Town are back among England’s elite after a 45-year absence, their promotion sealed by Christopher Schindler’s decisive penalty kick and a wider, barely credible transformation.

The club chairman, Dean Hoyle, took a gamble when he appointed David Wagner as manager in November 2015 and 19 months later that paid off spectacularly at Wembley as Huddersfield emerged triumphant from a tense play-off final to crown a rise that even their own fans did not dare predict at the start of this season.

Huddersfield last appeared in the top flight when Ted Heath was prime minster and T-Rex were top of the charts and only last season they finished 19th in the Championship. But in a few months this modest and valiant team will take their place among the giants of the modern Premier League. Few will tip them to survive but they will point out with pride that virtually no one expected them to win promotion this season either.

They achieved that after winning a nerve-shredding play-off final and their second shootout in a row, having also overcome Sheffield Wednesday that way in the semi-finals. Danny Ward made two saves at Hillsborough and the goalkeeper had to make another at Wembley, foiling Jordan Obita after Liam Moore had blasted over for Reading. That meant Ali Al‑Habsi’s save from Michael Hefele, which initially gave Reading the lead in the shootout, counted for nothing. Similarly the fact that Reading finished two places above Huddersfield in the regular season is now an irrelevant footnote.

It may have been tight but Huddersfield deserved their victory. They created the better chances in a final that a generation of Huddersfield fans will never forget. Wembley was awash with blue and white, the only distinction between the 76,682 fans being that one set wore hoops, the other stripes. Together they made a tremendous racket. Huddersfield’s players got to grips with the occasion much faster. They were sharper than Reading all over the pitch early on, superb in everything but their finishing.

Hefele should have scored in the fourth minute when Aaron Mooy found him with a curling free-kick from the left. But the centre-back, inexplicably free six yards from goal, nodded wide. Hefele held his head in disbelief but he and the rest of the people in the stadium rubbed their eyes in wonder six minutes later when Izzy Brown missed an even clearer opportunity. The chance was made by incisive running down the right by Tommy Smith and Elias Kachunga, and when the latter fired the ball across the face of goal, Brown seemed certain to tap it into the net at the back post. But to the immense relief of Reading the midfielder failed to make a proper connection, prodding the ball wide with his shin from three yards.

It was the type of miss that risks haunting players for years. Happily for Brown he can look back and laugh. But there was no immediate knowing whether that would be the outcome, as the final tightened up and chances grew rare.

Reading drew confidence from their reprieve and gradually got a foothold in the game, with Daniel Williams especially influential in midfield. The clash developed into a confrontation of styles; Huddersfield sat back uncharacteristically but attacked like a whirlwind when in possession, whereas Reading’s relatively slow and methodical passing made them more akin to a steady breeze intent on eroding the opposition rather than blowing them away.

The closest Stam’s team came to scoring in the first half was moments after Brown’s miss, when Lewis Grabban spun past Schindler and spanked a shot wide from 20 yards.

The stakes made the drama gripping even if the action became scruffy. Neither goalkeeper made a save until just after half-time, when John Swift burst from midfield and unleashed a powerful drive from 20 yards that Ward batted away.

After 90 minutes the teams remained deadlocked, the suspense thrillingly hard to bear. Garath McCleary produced gasps in the dying moments of the first period of extra-time when he fired just wide from the edge of the box. Five minutes from the end of the second period Kasey Palmer delivered a low cross from the right to Nahki Wells, who swivelled near the penalty spot before dragging a shot wide. And so the contest progressed to the ultimate tie-breaker.

Huddersfield fans rejoiced when it was decided the shootout would take place in front of them. The history they hoped to witness duly unfolded before their eyes. Yann Kermorgant netted for Reading from the first spot‑kick, then Chris Löwe and Williams scored, before Al-Habsi saved from Hefele. Liam Kelly and Wells safely scored before there was another twist, as Moore sent his shot into the stands. Mooy converted to draw the teams level again before Ward, on loan from Liverpool, saved Obita’s low effort. Schindler, whose arrival from 1860 Munich for £1.8m last summer made him the club’s record signing, stepped up to write himself into Huddersfield folklore for an even better reason.