2011 Football League One play-off final
Event | 2010–11 Football League One | ||||||
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Date | 29 May 2011 | ||||||
Venue | Old Trafford, Manchester | ||||||
Referee | Steve Tanner | ||||||
Attendance | 48,410 | ||||||
The 2011 Football League One play-off final was an association football match which was played on 29 May 2011 at Old Trafford in Manchester, between Huddersfield Town and Peterborough United, to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from Football League One to the Football League Championship. The top two teams of the 2010–11 Football League One season, Brighton & Hove Albion and Southampton, gained automatic promotion to the Championship, while the teams placed from third to sixth position took part in play-offs. The winners of the play-off semi-finals competed for the final place for the 2011–12 season in the Championship. AFC Bournemouth and Milton Keynes Dons were the defeated semi-finalists, losing to Huddersfield Town and Peterborough United respectively.
Steve Tanner was the referee for the match, which was played in front of 48,410 spectators. Craig Mackail-Smith, League One's leading scorer, went close for Peterborough on several occasions in the first half but it ended goalless. In the 78th minute, Peterborough took the lead as Tommy Rowe headed Grant McCann's free-kick into the Huddersfield net. Mackail-Smith doubled Peterborough's lead within two minutes, his shot deflecting into the goal off Antony Kay. With five minutes remaining, McCann increased the lead with a long-range strike to give Peterborough a 3–0 victory and promotion to the Championship.
Peterborough United ended their next season in 18th place in the Championship, four places and ten points above the relegation zone. Huddersfield Town finished their following season in fourth position in League One and qualified for the 2012 Football League play-offs where they met Sheffield United in the final and won promotion to the Championship after a penalty shootout.
Route to the final
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
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1 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 46 | 28 | 11 | 7 | 85 | 40 | +45 | 95 |
2 | Southampton | 46 | 28 | 8 | 10 | 86 | 38 | +48 | 92 |
3 | Huddersfield Town | 46 | 25 | 12 | 9 | 77 | 48 | +29 | 87 |
4 | Peterborough United | 46 | 23 | 10 | 13 | 106 | 75 | +31 | 79 |
5 | Milton Keynes Dons | 46 | 23 | 8 | 15 | 67 | 60 | +7 | 77 |
6 | Bournemouth | 46 | 19 | 14 | 13 | 75 | 54 | +21 | 71 |
Huddersfield Town finished the regular 2010–11 season in third place in Football League One, the third tier of the English football league system, one place and eight points ahead of Peterborough United. Both therefore missed out on the two automatic places for promotion to the Football League Championship and instead took part in the play-offs to determine the third promoted team. Huddersfield Town finished five points behind Southampton (who were promoted in second place) and eight behind league winners Brighton & Hove Albion.[1]
Peterborough United's opponents for their play-off semi-final were
Huddersfield Town faced
Match
Background
Due to the
The match was Huddersfield Town's third play-off final—their previous appearances came in 1995 (a 2–1 win over Bristol Rovers) and 2004 (a 4–1 penalty shootout win over Mansfield Town)—and capped their seventh overall appearance in the Football League play-offs. They had been relegated to the third tier of English football at the end of the 2002–03 season.[13] Peterborough United had also featured in two previous play-off finals, winning the Football League Third Division final in both 1992 (2–1 against Stockport County) and 2000 (1–0 against Darlington).[14] They had been relegated to League One the previous season, finishing bottom of the division and 15 points from safety.[14][15]
The sides had played each other three times during the season, twice in the league and once in the Football League Trophy. Peterborough won the first league encounter 4–2 at London Road in August 2010; Huddersfield secured a 3–2 victory six weeks later in the cup competition. The second league match took place in April 2011 and ended in a 1–1 draw.[16] This was also the second time the sides had faced one another in the play-offs, with Peterborough winning 4–3 on aggregate in the 1992 semi-finals.[16]
Peterborough's Mackail-Smith was the division's top scorer during the regular season with 32 goals (27 in the league, 2 in the FA Cup and 3 in the League Cup).[1] His side's other leading scorers were George Boyd with 17 (15 in the league and 2 in the League Cup) and Aaron McLean on 13 (10 in the league, 2 in the FA Cup and 1 in the League Cup).[17] Jordan Rhodes was Huddersfield's top scorer with 26 goals (20 in the league, 1 in the FA Cup, 1 in the League Cup and 4 in the Football League Trophy) followed by Anthony Pilkington with 14 (10 in the league and 3 in the Football League Trophy).[18]
The
Summary
The match kicked off around 3 p.m. on 29 May 2011 at Old Trafford in front of 48,410 spectators.[19][21] In the fifth minute, Mackail-Smith's shot was deflected by Kay onto the outside of Huddersfield's post from a tackle. Boyd then struck from around 30 yards (27 metres) but his shot was saved by Bennett. For Huddersfield, Peltier headed a Roberts pass over the Peterborough crossbar before Jones caught Clarke's on-target header. Benik Afobe, playing as a lone striker, then missed an opportunity for Huddersfield before Mackail-Smith was denied once again by Kay. Roberts' free-kick was then tipped round the post by Jones before Afobe struck wide from 8 yards (7.3 metres) from the resulting corner. Mackail-Smith then hit a shot wide while unmarked after receiving a pass from Boyd, and the half ended goalless.[23]
The first chance of the second half fell to McCann who struck a curling free-kick over the bar from around 20 yards (18 metres), before Ward's run down the wing ended with his shot striking the Peterborough crossbar. Kay then fouled Mackail-Smith, who was through on goal, and was shown a yellow card. In the 78th minute, Peterborough took the lead as Rowe's header from McCann's free-kick went into the Huddersfield net. In immediate response, Danny Cadamarteri was brought on for Ward as Huddersfield switched to two strikers, but Mackail-Smith doubled Peterborough's lead within two minutes, his shot deflecting into the goal off Kay. With five minutes remaining, McCann increased his side's lead with a long-range strike before Lee Tomlin's shot went over the Huddersfield crossbar. Peterborough won the match 3–0 and were promoted to the Championship.[23]
Details
Huddersfield Town | 0–3 | Peterborough United |
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Report | Rowe 78' Mackail-Smith 80' McCann 85' |
Huddersfield Town
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Peterborough United
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Match officials:
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Huddersfield Town | Peterborough United | |
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Total shots | 7 | 9 |
Shots on target | 3 | 5 |
Ball possession | 44% | 56% |
Corner kicks | 5 | 4 |
Fouls committed | 13 | 10 |
Yellow cards | 3 | 2 |
Red cards | 0 | 0 |
Post-match
Darren Ferguson, the Peterborough manager, was quick to praise his chairman, Darragh MacAnthony, noting "he's spent money, had a right go and had the bottle to get me back at the club".[22] He also noted that his father, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, had not been present at the final, calling him a "jinx" and jokingly attributing Peterborough's semi-final first-leg loss to MK Dons to him.[22] The Huddersfield manager Lee Clark said that the final score did not tell the whole story of the match: "It was just a crazy eight, ten minutes. For the first half-hour of the second half we dominated, but they had a set-piece expert ... I'm hurting for the owner, for the fantastic supporters".[22]
Peterborough United ended their next season in 18th place in the Championship, four places and ten points above the relegation zone.[24] Huddersfield Town finished their following season in fourth position in League One and qualified for the 2012 Football League play-offs where they met Sheffield United in the final, winning promotion to the Championship after a penalty shootout.[25][26]
References
- ^ a b c "League One – 2010/11 – regular season". Soccerway. Archived from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ "League One end of season table for 2010–11 season". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ "MK Dons 3–2 Peterborough". BBC Sport. 15 May 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ "Milton Keynes Dons v Peterborough United, 15 May 2011". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ "Peterborough 2–0 Milton Keynes Dons (agg 4–3)". BBC Sport. 19 May 2011. Archived from the original on 22 March 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ "Peterborough United v Milton Keynes Dons, 19 May 2011". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Archived from the original on 22 March 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ Mitchener, Mark. "Bournemouth 1–1 Huddersfield". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 22 March 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ "AFC Bournemouth v Huddersfield Town, 14 May 2011". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ Mitchener, Mark (18 May 2012). "Huddersfield 3–3 Bournemouth (agg 4–4)". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ "Huddersfield Town v AFC Bournemouth, 18 May 2011". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ Ogden, Mark (16 April 2010). "Old Trafford considered as venue for 2010–11 Football League play-off finals". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
- ^ "Old Trafford to host League One and Two play-off finals". BBC News. 21 January 2011. Archived from the original on 25 January 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
- ^ "Huddersfield Town". Football Club History Database. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ a b "Peterborough United". Football Club History Database. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ "Championship – 2009/2010 – Regular season". Soccerway. Perform Group. Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ a b "Huddersfield Town football club: record v Peterborough United". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ "Peterborough squad details – 2010/11 – Player appearances". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ "Huddersfield squad details – 2010/11 – Player appearances". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ a b "Huddersfield Town v Peterborough United, 29 May 2011". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ Thomson, Doug (12 July 2013). "Steve Tanner to referee Huddersfield Town's play-off final". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ a b "The Box". The Times. 23 May 2011. p. 79. Retrieved 20 March 2021 – via Gale.
- ^ a b c d Dart, Tom (30 May 2011). "Ferguson's ban does the trick". The Times. p. 76. Retrieved 20 March 2021 – via Gale.
- ^ a b c Begley, Emlyn (29 May 2011). "Huddersfield 0–3 Peterborough". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
- ^ "Championship – 2011/2012 – Regular season". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
- ^ "League One – 2011/2012 – Regular season". Soccerway. Perform Group. Archived from the original on 22 November 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
- ^ "Huddersfield Town v Sheffield United, 26 May 2012". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2021.