2021 EFL League Two play-off final
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After extra time | |||||||
Date | 31 May 2021 | ||||||
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Venue | Wembley Stadium, London | ||||||
Referee | Bobby Madley | ||||||
Attendance | 9,083 | ||||||
Weather | Sunny | ||||||
The 2021 EFL League Two play-off Final was an association football match which was played on 31 May 2021 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Morecambe and Newport County. The match determined the fourth and final team to gain promotion from EFL League Two, the fourth tier of English football, to League One for the 2021–22 season. The top three teams of 2020–21 EFL League Two gained automatic promotion, while the clubs placed from fourth to seventh in the table took part in the 2021 English Football League play-offs.
The match was played in front of 9,083 spectators in sunny conditions, with Bobby Madley as the referee. Goalless after 90 minutes, the game went into extra time. A minute into the second period of additional time, John O'Sullivan was brought down by Ryan Haynes and the referee awarded Morecambe a penalty which Carlos Mendes Gomes converted to give his side the lead. The match ended 1–0 to Morecambe who were promoted to League One, the third tier of English football, for the first time in the club's history.
Route to the final
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
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1 | Cheltenham Town | 46 | 24 | 10 | 12 | 61 | 39 | +22 | 82 |
2 | Cambridge United | 46 | 24 | 8 | 14 | 73 | 49 | +24 | 80 |
3 | Bolton Wanderers | 46 | 23 | 10 | 13 | 59 | 50 | +9 | 79 |
4 | Morecambe | 46 | 23 | 9 | 14 | 69 | 58 | +11 | 78 |
5 | Newport County | 46 | 20 | 13 | 13 | 57 | 42 | +15 | 73 |
6 | Forest Green Rovers | 46 | 20 | 13 | 13 | 59 | 51 | +8 | 73 |
7 | Tranmere Rovers | 46 | 20 | 13 | 13 | 55 | 50 | +5 | 73 |
Morecambe finished the regular 2020–21 season in fourth place in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system, one place and five points ahead of Newport County. Both therefore missed out on the three automatic places for promotion to EFL League One and instead took part in the play-offs to determine the fourth promoted team. Morecambe finished one point behind Bolton Wanderers (who were promoted in third place), two behind Cambridge United (promoted in second) and four behind Cheltenham Town (who were promoted as champions).[1]
Newport County's opponents for their play-off semi-final were
Morecambe faced
Match
Background
This was Morecambe's first appearance in the play-off final, having played once before in the
Summary
The match kicked off around 3 p.m. on 31 May 2021 in sunny conditions with 9,083 spectators. Two minutes in, Mendes Gomes was fouled and a quickly-taken free kick resulted in him shooting wide of the Newport County goal. In the eighth minute, Mickey Demetriou launched a long throw-in into the Morecambe penalty area but the ball was caught by goalkeeper Kyle Letheren. Samuel Lavelle's looping header was then saved by Newport County goalkeeper Tom King. In the 13th minute, Scot Bennett's header from another Demetriou throw-in rolled just past the outside of the post. Letheren brought Bennett down but no penalty was awarded by Madley.[14] Liam Shephard then struck a shot following another Demetriou throw-in, but the ball hit one of his teammates who was in an offside position. Midway through the half, Labadie's shot was blocked and Sheehan's subsequent strike was saved by Letheren, before the players took a drinks break. In the 32nd minute, Amond's shot from the edge of the Morecambe penalty area went wide before Sheehan's curling strike was also off-target. With three minutes of the half remaining, Aaron Lewis kicked the ball on the volley but his shot went over the Morecambe bar.[15] In the 43rd minute, Mendes Gomes passed to Liam Gibson whose shot was on target but cleared by Shephard. Two minutes into first-half stoppage time, a shot from Bennett took a deflection off Yann Songo'o but the ball went just wide of the Morecambe goal, and Demetriou headed off-target from the resulting corner before the half was brought to a close with the score at 0–0.[16]
Neither side made any changes to their personnel during the interval. Four minutes into the second half, Labadie passed to Collins whose deflected shot was saved by Letheren.
Before the first period of extra time kicked off, Morecambe substituted Wildig off and replaced him with John O'Sullivan. Two minutes in, Morecambe's Stockton headed Cooney's cross wide and four minutes later, Labadie became the first player of the match to be shown a yellow card after he fouled Songo'o.[18] Just before half-time, Maynard's cross found Labadie but his shot went over the crossbar from close range and the half ended with score still at 0–0. Morecambe made one further change, with Kelvin Mellor replacing Gibson. A minute into the second period of extra time, O'Sullivan was brought down by Haynes and the referee awarded Morecambe a penalty which Mendes Gomes converted to give his side the lead. In the 111th minute, Newport County made another substitution with Priestley Farquharson coming on for Haynes before Hartigan's shot went over the Morecambe crossbar. Mendes Gomes was then replaced by Alex Kenyon for Morecambe.[19] After three minutes of stoppage time, the final whistle was blown with Morecambe winning 1–0 and securing promotion to League One for the first time in their history.[20]
Details
Morecambe | 1–0 (a.e.t.) | Newport County |
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Mendes Gomes 107' (pen.) | Report |
Morecambe[21]
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Newport County[21]
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Man of the Match:
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Match rules[22]
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Morecambe | Newport County | |
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Possession | 40% | 60% |
Total shots | 11 | 24 |
Shots on target | 2 | 5 |
Corner kicks | 3 | 12 |
Fouls committed | 14 | 20 |
Yellow cards | 2 | 2 |
Red cards | 0 | 0 |
Post-match
Winning goalscorer Mendes Gomes said "I worked all my life for moments like this ... If I was writing a story, probably it would be this way. I knew that penalty would mean a lot if I put it in and I just tried to stay as calm as possible."[20] His captain, Lavelle, noted that "League One is unheard for Morecambe. I can’t describe it ... It’s one of the best days of my life."[20] Their manager, Derek Adams, admitted the match was disappointing, suggesting "It was a difficult game, there wasn't a lot of good play in the match ... I think today it was all about Morecambe. I was never nervous. It was in the stars, it was our day."[20]
His counterpart Mike Flynn blamed the referee for his side's failure, saying, "It went wrong with two very very bad refereeing decisions that have cost us at Wembley despite us dominating the game."[20] However, Flynn congratulated his opposition: "Congratulations to Morecambe, they've had an outstanding season and they have a group of players that never know when they are beaten."[20]
References
- ^ a b "League Two – 2020/2021 – Regular season". Soccerway. Perform Group. Archived from the original on 18 February 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
- ^ Pearlman, Michael (18 May 2021). "Newport County 2–0 Forest Green Rovers". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
- ^ "Forest Green Rovers v Newport County, 23 May 2021". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Archived from the original on 20 May 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
- ^ Vincent, Gareth (23 May 2021). "Forest Green Rovers 4–3 Newport County (agg 4–5)". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 23 May 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
- ^ Rindl, Josef (20 May 2021). "Tranmere Rovers 1–2 Morecambe". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 24 May 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
- ^ "Morecambe v Tranmere Rovers, 23 May 2021". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Archived from the original on 20 May 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
- ^ "Morecambe 1–1 Tranmere Rovers". BBC Sport. 23 May 2021. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
- ^ "Morecambe". Football Club History Database. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
- ^ "Newport County". Football Club History Database. Archived from the original on 15 April 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
- ^ "Newport County football club: record v Morecambe". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
- ^ "Morecambe squad details – 2020/21 – Player appearances". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Archived from the original on 28 June 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
- ^ "Newport County Top Scorers". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 19 May 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
- ^ "Referee appointments: Sky Bet EFL Play-Off Finals". English Football League. 24 May 2021. Archived from the original on 30 May 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
- ^ Vincent, Gareth (31 May 2021). "League Two play-off final: Morecambe 1–0 Newport County – Morecambe promoted to League One for first time in club's history (7 of 9)". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- ^ Vincent, Gareth (31 May 2021). "League Two play-off final: Morecambe 1–0 Newport County – Morecambe promoted to League One for first time in club's history (6 of 9)". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- ^ a b Vincent, Gareth (31 May 2021). "League Two play-off final: Morecambe 1–0 Newport County – Morecambe promoted to League One for first time in club's history (5 of 9)". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- ^ Vincent, Gareth (31 May 2021). "League Two play-off final: Morecambe 1–0 Newport County – Morecambe promoted to League One for first time in club's history (4 of 9)". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- ^ a b Vincent, Gareth (31 May 2021). "League Two play-off final: Morecambe 1–0 Newport County – Morecambe promoted to League One for first time in club's history (3 of 9)". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- ^ Vincent, Gareth (31 May 2021). "League Two play-off final: Morecambe 1–0 Newport County – Morecambe promoted to League One for first time in club's history (2 of 9)". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f Vincent, Gareth (31 May 2021). "League Two play-off final: Morecambe 1–0 Newport County – Morecambe promoted to League One for first time in club's history (1 of 9)". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 1 June 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- ^ a b "Starting Lineups - Morecambe vs Newport 31.05.21". Sky Sports. 31 May 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
- ^ "Rules of the FA Challenge Cup competition" (PDF). The Football Association. Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
- ^ Pearlman, Michael (31 May 2021). "Morecambe 1–0 Newport County". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 31 May 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2021.