 The match took place at Wembley Stadium. | |||||||
| Event | 2016–17 EFL League Two | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Date | 28 May 2017 | ||||||
| Venue | Wembley Stadium, London | ||||||
| Referee | Darren England | ||||||
| Attendance | 23,380 | ||||||
←2016 2018 → | |||||||
The2017 EFL League Two play-off final was anassociation football match played on 28 May 2017 atWembley Stadium, London, betweenBlackpool andExeter City. The match determined the fourth and final team to gainpromotion fromEFL League Two, English football's fourth tier, toEFL League One. The top three teams of the2016–17 EFL League Two season gained automatic promotion to League One, while the teams placed from fourth to seventh in the table took part in play-off semi-finals; the winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place for the2017–18 season in League One. Blackpool finished in seventh place while Exeter ended the season in fifth position.Luton Town andCarlisle United were the losing semi-finalists.
The matchkicked off around 3 p.m in front of 23,380 spectators and wasrefereed byDarren England. Three minutes into the game, Potts put Blackpool ahead:Jack Payne made a long pass toMark Cullen, who played it to Potts. He ran on and struck the ball first-time into the far corner of the Exeter goal. With five minutes of the half remaining,David Wheeler scored the equaliser with alob overSam Slocombe from just inside the Blackpoolpenalty area to make it 1–1 at half-time. In the 64th minute, Cullen put Blackpool back into the lead. Potts made a run into the Exeter penalty area and crossed the ball: Pym deflected it with his foot only for Cullen to finish it with an outstretched leg. Late pressure from Exeter failed to produce any goals, and despite five minutes of injury time, the match ended 2–1 to Blackpool who were promoted to League One.
Blackpool finished theirfollowing season in twelfth place in League One. In theirnext season, Exeter City finished in fourth position in League Two and qualified for theplay-offs where they lost 3–1 againstCoventry City in thefinal.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portsmouth | 46 | 26 | 9 | 11 | 79 | 40 | +39 | 87 |
| 2 | Plymouth Argyle | 46 | 26 | 9 | 11 | 71 | 46 | +25 | 87 |
| 3 | Doncaster Rovers | 46 | 25 | 10 | 11 | 85 | 55 | +30 | 85 |
| 4 | Luton Town | 46 | 20 | 17 | 9 | 70 | 43 | +27 | 77 |
| 5 | Exeter City | 46 | 21 | 8 | 17 | 75 | 56 | +19 | 71 |
| 6 | Carlisle United | 46 | 18 | 17 | 11 | 69 | 68 | +1 | 71 |
| 7 | Blackpool | 46 | 18 | 16 | 12 | 69 | 46 | +23 | 70 |
Exeter City finished the regular2016–17 season in fifth place inEFL League Two, the fourth tier of theEnglish football league system, two places ahead ofBlackpool. Both therefore missed out on the three automatic places forpromotion toEFL League One and instead took part in theplay-offs to determine the fourth promoted team. Exeter City finished fourteen points behindDoncaster Rovers (who were promoted in third place), and sixteen behindPlymouth Argyle (promoted in second) and league winnersPortsmouth. Blackpool ended the season two places and one point behind Exeter City.[1]
Blackpool's opponents for their play-off semi-final wereLuton Town with the first match of thetwo-legged tie being held atBloomfield Road in Blackpool on 14 May 2017.Mark Cullen put the home side ahead after 19 minutes with a low shot but Luton replied, first throughDan Potts and thenIsaac Vassell, to make it 2–1 at half-time. Two minutes into the second half, Cullen levelled the game with his second goal, a strike from around 25 yards (23 m). He completed hishat-trick midway through the half with apenalty and the match ended 3–2 to Blackpool.[2] The second leg of the semi-final took place atKenilworth Road in Luton four days later.Nathan Delfouneso opened the scoring for the visitors midway through the first half beforeKelvin Mellor'sown goal made it 1–1.Scott Cuthbert'sheader just before half-time made it 2–1 to Luton and twelve minutes after the break,Danny Hylton converted a penalty to increase his side's lead.Armand Gnanduillet's header made it 3–2 with less than 15 minutes remaining, and in the fifth minute of injury time, an own goal fromStuart Moore ensured the match ended 3–3. With anaggregate victory of 6–5, Blackpool progressed to the final.[3]
Exeter City facedCarlisle United in their play-off semi-final, the first leg being played atBrunton Park in Carlisle on 14 May 2017. The visitors took the lead on 15 minutes whenJoel Grant scored but Exeter'sJordan Moore-Taylor scored an own goal to level the match.Ryan Harley restored Exeter's lead just before half-time andDavid Wheeler made it 3–1 eleven minutes into the second half.John O'Sullivan's cross floated into the Exeter goal to make it 3–2 midway through the second half andShaun Miller's header levelled the match which ended 3–3.[4] The second leg of the semi-final was playedSt James Park in Exeter four days later.Ollie Watkins scored the only goal of the first half to put Exeter ahead on aggregate. With eleven minutes of the game remaining, Watkins scored his and Exeter's second, butJason Kennedy pulled one back for the visitors two minutes later. O'Sullivan scored in the 90th minute to make it 2–2, but five minutes into injury time,Jack Stacey scored for Exeter to make it 3–2, and Exeter won the tie 6–5 on aggregate.[5]
Blackpool had been relegated to League Two theprevious season and were thus aiming for an instant return to League One.[6] Exeter City had played in League Two since being relegated at the end of the2011–12 season.[7] During the regular season, Blackpool were undefeated in the two matches between the clubs, winning 2–0 at Bloomfield Road in August 2016 and drawing 2–2 at St James Park the following February.[8] Blackpool's top scorers during the regular season were Potts with 12 (10 in the league, 1 in theFA Cup and 1 in theLeague Cup) followed by Vassell with 11 (all in the league).[9] Exeter's leading marksmen were Wheeler who had 17 goals for the season (all in the league), followed by Reid with 14 (13 in the league, 1 in the FA Cup) and Watkins with 13 (all in the league).[10]
Exeter City were allocated 20,000 tickets for the match.[11] Blackpool supporters were allocated the east end ofWembley Stadium while Exeter City fans occupied the west end.[12] Due to an ongoing dispute with Blackpool owner,Owen Oyston and his family, Blackpool Supporters' Trust called on the club to donate its share of its gate receipts to charity so they could attend the match without their money going towards the Oyston family.[13]
Thereferee for the match wasDarren England, who wasassisted by James Bell and Lee Venamore. Thefourth official was David Webb while the reserve assistant referee was Helen Byrne.[12]Hawk-Eye was also in use for the final.[12] Before the match, a minute's silence was held to commemorate theManchester Arena bombing which had taken place six days prior to the final.Faryl Smith performed thenational anthem before kick-off.Sky Sports was the exclusive live broadcaster for the final in the UK.[12]
Watkins had been voted the EFL Young Player of the Season at theEFL Awards.[14] Blackpool adopted a3–5–2 formation while Exeter played as a4–4–2.[14] Exeter played in luminous yellow shirts, shorts and socks, while Blackpool'skit wastangerine and white shirts, white shorts and tangerine socks.[12]
Exeterkicked off the match around 3 p.m on 28 May 2017 in front of 23,380 spectators. Three minutes into the game, Potts put Blackpool ahead:Jack Payne made a long pass to Cullen, who played it to Potts. He ran on and struck the ball first-time into the far corner of the Exeter goal. In the 11th minute, Wheeler headed to Watkins whose shot from inside thepenalty area was saved bySam Slocombe. Seven minutes later,Jake Taylor's shot from 8 yards (7.3 m) was blocked by Blackpool'sTom Aldred.Lloyd James then struck a shot wide of Blackpool's goal from 25 yards (23 m). In the 31st minute, Blackpool were forced to make their firstsubstitution of the match as Aldred was unable to continue with an ankle injury, and he was replaced byBright Osayi-Samuel.[14] With five minutes of the half remaining, Wheeler scored the equaliser. Woodman played a long ball towards him, which he controlled on the run. As Slocombe came out, Wheelerlobbed him from just inside the area to make it 1–1 at half-time.[15]
Three minutes into the second half, Osayi-Samuel struck a shot wide of the Exeter goal. In the 50th minute, ahalf-volley from Vassell from a tight angle was saved by the Exeter goalkeeperChristy Pym. In the 57th minute Exeter's Grant was replaced byReuben Reid beforeTroy Brown limped off, withPierce Sweeney coming on as a substitute. In the 59th minute, Cullen received the firstyellow card of the game. Pym then caught Mellor's header from a corner. Blackpool made their second substitution of the game in the 62nd minute whenIan Black came on for Payne. Two minutes later, Cullen put Blackpool back into the lead. Potts made a run into the Exeter penalty area and crossed the ball: Pym deflected it with his foot only for Cullen to finish it with an outstretched leg. In the 71st minute, Exeter made their final personnel change of the afternoon withLee Holmes replacingCraig Woodman. Danns shot then flew over the Exeter crossbar and with fifteen minutes to go, Cullen was replaced byJordan Flores. In the 78th minute, Reid's shot from the edge of the Blackpool box went just wide. Late pressure from Exeter failed to produce any goals, and despite five minutes of injury time, the match ended 2–1 to Blackpool who were promoted to League One.[15]
         Blackpool |   Exeter City |
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| Statistic | Blackpool | Exeter City |
|---|---|---|
| Goals scored | 2 | 1 |
| Total shots | 16 | 13 |
| Shots on target | 5 | 2 |
| Ball possession | 36% | 64% |
| Corner kicks | 8 | 3 |
| Fouls committed | 7 | 11 |
| Yellow cards | 5 | 0 |
| Red cards | 0 | 0 |
The Blackpoolmanager said: "It was a massive team effort ... Exeter, a great footballing team, put us on the back foot."[16] His counterpartPaul Tisdale said: "I'm disappointed, clearly. I'm disappointed that we probably didn't do our best in the last half an hour ... It's a tough environment to play in – the pressure – and the performance doesn't always get the result."[16] Winning the final made Blackpool the most successful team in the history of the play-offs, having won five finals in eight attempts.[17]
Blackpool finished theirfollowing season in twelfth place in League One.[18] In theirnext season, Exeter City finished in fourth position in League Two and qualified for theplay-offs where they lost 2–1 againstCoventry City in thefinal.[19]
