 Yeovil Town supporters at Wembley before the kick-off | |||||||
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| Date | 19 May 2013 | ||||||
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| Venue | Wembley Stadium, London | ||||||
| Referee | Andy D'Urso | ||||||
| Attendance | 41,955 | ||||||
←2012 2014 → | |||||||
The2013 Football League One play-off final was anassociation football match which was played on 19 May 2013 atWembley Stadium, London, betweenBrentford andYeovil Town to determine the third and final team to gainpromotion fromFootball League One to theFootball League Championship. The top two teams of the2012–13 Football League One season,Doncaster Rovers andBournemouth, gained automatic promotion to the Championship, while the teams placed from third to sixth place in the table took part in play-off semi-finals; the winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place for the2013–14 season in the Championship.
The matchkicked off around 1:30 p.m. in front of 41,955 spectators and was refereed byAndy D'Urso. On six minutes, Yeovil'sPaddy Madden made it 1–0 with a shot from the edge of the Brentfordpenalty area with the outside of his right boot into the top-right corner ofSimon Moore's goal. In the 42nd minute,Dan Burn doubled the lead with a header. Six minutes into the second half, Brentford'sHarlee Dean scored with a header from Forrester's corner. Despite pressure from Brentford with Stech saving attempts fromClayton Donaldson,Adam Forshaw andBradley Wright-Phillips, the score remained 2–1 and Yeovil were promoted to the Championship.
Yeovil Town ended thefollowing season bottom of the Football League Championship, and were relegated back to League One. Brentford finished second in League One in theirnext season, and gained automatic promotion to the Championship for the2014–15 season.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Doncaster Rovers | 46 | 25 | 9 | 12 | 62 | 44 | +18 | 84 |
| 2 | Bournemouth | 46 | 24 | 11 | 11 | 76 | 53 | +23 | 83 |
| 3 | Brentford | 46 | 21 | 16 | 9 | 62 | 47 | +15 | 79 |
| 4 | Yeovil Town | 46 | 23 | 8 | 15 | 71 | 56 | +15 | 77 |
| 5 | Sheffield United | 46 | 19 | 18 | 9 | 56 | 42 | +14 | 75 |
| 6 | Swindon Town | 46 | 20 | 14 | 12 | 72 | 39 | +33 | 74 |
Brentford finished the regular2012–13 season in third place inFootball League One, the third tier of theEnglish football league system, one place ahead ofYeovil Town. Both therefore missed out on the two automatic places forpromotion to theFootball League Championship, the second tier of English football, and instead took part in theplay-offs to determine the third promoted team. Brentford finished four points behindBournemouth (who were promoted in second place) and five behind league winnersDoncaster Rovers. Yeovil Town ended the season two points behind Brentford.[1][2]
Yeovil Town's opponents for their play-off semi-final wereSheffield United and the first match of thetwo-legged tie was played on 3 May 2013 atBramall Lane in Sheffield. The first half ended goalless with the best chance falling toBarry Robson; hisfree kick went just wide of the Yeovil goalpost.Callum McFadzean came on after half-time toreplace Robson and within a minute of the second half, his shot deflected pastMarek Štěch in the Yeovil goal to give Sheffield United the advantage. Both sides had further chances to score but the match ended 1–0.[3] The second leg of the semi-final took place three days later atHuish Park in Yeovil.Kevin Dawson levelled the tieon aggregate when he put the home side ahead on five minutes after a pass fromEd Upson. Sheffield United'sJamie Murphy struck the Yeovil bar with a shot before Upson scored from aPaddy Maddencross with five minutes remaining to make the final score 2–0 and to send his side to Wembley with a 2–1 aggregate victory.[4]
Brentford facedSwindon Town in the other semi-final and the first leg was played on 4 May 2013 at theCounty Ground in Swindon. After a goalless first half, Swindon'sMassimo Luongo opened the scoring in the 70th minute with a curling shot from the edge of thepenalty area.[5] In injury time, Luongo fouledHarry Forrester in the Swindon box to concede apenalty. The spot kick was scored byKevin O'Connor and the match ended 1–1.[6] The second leg of the semi-final was held atGriffin Park in Brentford two days later. The home side dominated the early play and went ahead midway through the half afterAdam Rooney steered the ballinto his own net from a corner. Brentford doubled their lead in the 40th minute whenClayton Donaldson struck from the edge of the Swindon penalty area. Rooney scored four minutes later to make it 2–1 to the home side before Donaldson scored with achip early in the second half.Joe Devera's 57th-minutevolley made it 3–2 and in injury timeAden Flint's headed goal levelled the match at 3–3, and the aggregate score at 4–4. Despite Swindon'sNathan Byrne beingsent off after receiving a secondyellow card for handball, theextra-time period ended goalless and the game went to apenalty shootout. The first six spot kicks were converted beforeMiles Storey's strike was saved by the Brentford goalkeeperSimon Moore. No other penalties were missed and Brentford won 5–4 in the shootout to progress to Wembley.[7]
This was Brentford's third appearance in the third-tier play-off finals, having lost both the1997 Football League Second Division play-off final 1–0 againstCrewe Alexandra and the2002 Football League Second Division play-off final 2–0 againstStoke City.[8] They had also lost in the semi-finals of the1991,1995,2005 and2006 play-offs.[9] Yeovil Town had made one appearance in the play-off finals where they were beaten 2–0 byBlackpool in the2007 Football League One play-off final.[10] Brentford had played in League One since their promotion from League Two in the2008–09 season as champions,[11] while Yeovil had been promoted to League One after finishing top of2004–05 Football League Two.[12] Yeovil had been promoted fromnon-League football as champions of the2002–03 Football Conference.[12]
Brentford's top scorer during the regular season was Donaldson with 22 goals (18 in the league and 4 in theFA Cup) followed by Forrester who had scored 11 (8 in the league and 3 in the FA Cup).[13] The leading scorers for Yeovil were Madden on 22 (all in the league) andJames Hayter with 14 (also all in the league).[14] Yeovil had won both matches between the clubs during the regular season: a 3–1 victory at Griffin Park in August 2012 was followed by a 3–0 win at Huish Park the following February.[15]
Thereferee for the match wasAndy D'Urso, who wasassisted by Derek Eaton and Alan Young. Thefourth official wasGraham Scott and the reserve assistant referee was John Hopkins.[16]
The matchkicked off around 1:30 p.m. atWembley Stadium in front of a crowd of 41,955. In the fifth minute, Madden's shot from inside the Brentford penalty area was blocked.[17] A minute later, he took control of the ball on the edge of the box and struck it with the outside of his right boot into the top-right corner of Moore's goal. It was his 23rd goal of the season, but the first for six games, and was described by Jacob Steinberg inThe Guardian as a goal which "would have graced any previous Wembley final".[17][18] The remainder of the first half saw few chances, but in the 42nd minute, a corner fromSam Foley to the far post foundDan Burn who headed the ball into the six-yard box. Hayter and Moore both missed it and the ball crossed the goal-line to make it 2–0 to Yeovil.[18] In injury time,Jake Bidwell's cross was headed goalwards byMarcello Trotta but it was caught by Štěch in the Yeovil goal.[17]
Neither side made any changes to their personnel during half-time and in the opening moments of the second half, Brentford went on the attack with an off-target shot from Donaldson.[17] Six minutes into the half, Brentford'sHarlee Dean scored with a header from Forrester's corner, narrowing the margin to 2–1. In the 62nd minute,Bradley Wright-Phillips came on for Trotta in the first substitution of the game. Two minutes later, Donaldson's header was cleared off the line and Wright-Phillips failed to convert the rebound.[17] In the 68th minute, Brentford made their second substitution whenSam Saunders replaced Forrester. A shot fromAdam Forshaw was then saved by Štěch. On 75 minutes, Dawson appeared to be fouled in the Brentford penalty area but was booked fordiving. Two minutes laterVitālijs Maksimenko came on to replaceJamie McAllister for Yeovil, and thenToumani Diagouraga for Hayes. In the 82nd minute, Wright-Phillips spun and struck a volley, but Štěch made the save.[17] With two minutes of regular time remainingMatt Dolan replaced Hayter.Shay Logan then struck a shot just wide of the Yeovil goalpost. Despite late pressure from Brentford, the score remained 2–1 and Yeovil were promoted to the Championship.[18]
         Brentford |      Yeovil Town |
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Assistant referees: | Match rules:
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The Yeovil managerGary Johnson described Madden's opening goal as "a sublime piece of ingenuity". Speaking of the play-offs, he described his team as having "three great games" which had "brought the club together, even more so than if we had gone up automatically."[20] His counterpartUwe Rösler was reflective: "This club has not been at this level for decades ... this squad has lifted the club to a higher level."[20]
Ten years after being promoted from non-League football, Yeovil were promoted to the second tier of English football.[12][18] Yeovil Town ended theirfollowing season bottom of the Football League Championship, and were relegated back to League One.[21] Brentford finished second in League One in theirnext season, and gained automatic promotion to the Championship for the2014–15 season.[22]
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