2013 Football League One play-off Final

The 2013 Football League One play-off Final was an association football match which was played on 19 May 2013 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Brentford and Yeovil Town 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 2012–13 Football League One season, Doncaster Rovers and Bournemouth, 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 the 2013–14 season in the Championship.

2013 Football League One play-off Final
Event2012–13 Football League One
Brentford Yeovil Town
1 2
Date19 May 2013
VenueWembley Stadium, London
Man of the MatchMarek Štěch
RefereeAndy D'Urso[1]
Attendance41,955

The match kicked off around 1:30 p.m. in front of a Wembley crowd of 41,955 and was refereed by Andy D'Urso. On six minutes, Yeovil's Madden shot from the edge of the Brentford penalty area with the outside of his right boot into the top-right corner of Simon Moore's goal to make it 1–0. In the 42nd minute,Dan Burn doubled the lead with a header. Six minutes into the second half, Brentford's Harlee Dean scored with a header from Forrester's corner. Despite pressure from Brentford with Moore saving attempts from Clayton Donaldson, Adam Forshaw and Bradley Wright-Phillips, the score remained 2–1 at the final whistle and Yeovil were promoted to the Championship.

Yeovil Town ended the following season bottom of the Football League Championship, and were relegated back to League One. Brentford finished second in League One in their next season, and gained automatic promotion to the Championship for the 2014–15 season.

Route to the final
Football League One final table, leading positions[2]
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 regular 2013–14 season in third place in Football League One, the third tier of the English football league system, one place ahead of Yeovil Town. 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. Brentford finished four points behind Bournemouth (who were promoted in second place) and five behind league winners Doncaster Rovers. Yeovil Town ended the season two points behind Brentford.[2][3]

Yeovil Town's opponents for their play-off semi-final were Sheffield United and the first match of the two-legged tie was played on 3 May 2013 at Bramall Lane in Sheffield. The first half ended goalless with the best chance falling to Barry Robson whose free kick went just wide of the Yeovil goalpost. Callum McFadzean came on after half-time to replace Robson and within a minute of the second half, his shot took a deflection past Marek Štěch in the Yeovil goal to give Sheffield United the advantage. Both sides had chances to score but the match ended 1–0.[4] The second leg of the semi-final took place three days later at Huish Park in Yeovil. Kevin Dawson levelled the tie when he put the home side ahead on five minutes after a pass from Ed Upson. Sheffield United's Jamie Murphy struck the Yeovil bar with a shot before Upson scored from a Paddy Madden cross with five minutes remaining to send his side to Wembley with a 2–1 aggregate victory.[5]

Brentford faced Swindon Town in the other play-off semi-final and the first leg was played on 4 May 2013 at the County Ground in Swindon. Swindon's Massimo Luongo opened the scoring with a curling shot from the edge of the penalty area. In injury time, Luongo fouled Harry Forrester in the Swindon box to concede a penalty. The spot kick was scored by Kevin O'Connor and the match ended 1–1.[6] The second leg of the semi-final was held at Griffin Park in Brentford two days later. The home side dominated the early play and went ahead midway through the half after Adam Rooney scored an own goal. Brentford doubled their lead in the 40th minute when Clayton 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 a chip early in the second half. Joe Devera's 57th-minute volley made it 3–2 and in injury time Aden Flint headed goal levelled the match at 3–3 and the tie at 4–4. Despite Swindon's Nathan Byrne being sent off, the extra time period ended goalless and the game went to a penalty shootout. The first six spot kicks were converted before Miles Storey's strike was saved by the Brentford goalkeeper Simon Moore. No other penalties were missed and Brentford won 5–4 in the shootout to progress to Wembley.[7]

Match

Background

This was Brentford's third appearance in the third tier play-off finals, having lost both the 1997 Football League Second Division play-off Final 1–0 against Crewe Alexandra and the 2002 Football League Second Division play-off Final 2–0 against Stoke City.[8] They had also lost in the semi-finals of the 1991, 1995, 2005 and 2006 play-offs.[9] Yeovil Town had made one appearance in the play-off finals where they were beaten 2–0 by Blackpool in the 2007 Football League One play-off Final.[10] Brentford had played in League One since their promotion from League Two in the 2008–09 season as champions,[11] while Yeovil had been promoted to League One after finishing top of 2004–05 Football League Two.[12] Yeovil had been promoted from non-League football as champions of the 2002–03 Football Conference.[12]

Yeovil's top scorer during the regular season was Donaldson with 22 goals (18 in the league and 4 in the FA 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) and James 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]

The referee for the match was Andy D'Urso who was assisted by Derek Eaton and Alan Young. The fourth official was Graham Scott and the reserve assistant referee was John Hopkins.[16]

Summary

The match kicked off around 1:30 p.m. in front of a Wembley crowd of 41,955. On six minutes, Yeovil's Madden took control of the ball on the edge of the Brentford penalty area 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 and was described by Jacob Steinberg in The Guardian as a goal which "would have graced any previous Wembley final".[17] In the 42nd minute, a corner from Sam Foley to the far post found Dan 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.[17] Six minutes into the second half, Brentford's Harlee Dean scored with a header from Forrester's corner. Despite pressure from Brentford with attempts from Donaldson, Adam Forshaw and Bradley Wright-Phillips, the score remained 2–1 at the final whistle and Yeovil were promoted to the Championship.[17]

Details
Brentford1–2Yeovil Town
Dean  51' Report Madden  6'
Burn  42'
Attendance: 41,955
Brentford
Yeovil Town
GK21Simon Moore
DF14Shay Logan
DF5Tony Craig
DF6Harlee Dean
DF24Jake Bidwell
MF4Adam Forshaw
MF12Tom Adeyemi
MF20Toumani Diagouraga 82'
MF19Harry Forrester 67'
FW9Clayton Donaldson
FW11Marcello Trotta 62'
Substitutes:
GK16Antoine Gounet
DF18Lee Hodson
MF2Kevin O'Connor
MF7Sam Saunders 67'
MF8Jonathan Douglas
FW17Bradley Wright-Phillips 62'
FW23Paul Hayes 82'
Manager:
Uwe Rösler
GK1Marek Štěch
DF2Luke Ayling
DF5Byron Webster
DF18Dan Burn
DF3Jamie McAllister 77'
MF22Kevin Dawson 75'
MF8Ed Upson 70'
MF14Sam Foley
MF20Joe Edwards
FW9James Hayter 88'
FW17Paddy Madden
Substitutes:
GK12Gareth Stewart
DF4Richard Hinds
DF13Vitālijs Maksimenko 77'
MF10Gavin Williams 90'
MF26Matthew Dolan 88'
FW15Lewis Young
FW29Ángelo Balanta
Manager:
Gary Johnson

Man of the Match:
Marek Štěch (Yeovil Town)

Assistant referees:
Derek Eaton[1]
Alan Young[1]
Fourth official:
Graham Scott[1]
Reserve Assistant Referee:
John Hopkins[1]

Match rules:

  • 90 minutes.
  • 30 minutes of extra time if necessary.
  • Penalty shoot-out if scores still level.
  • Seven named substitutes.
  • Maximum of three substitutions.

Post-match

The Yeovil manager described Hadden'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 [Yeovil] had gone up automatically."[18] His counterpart Rösler was reflective: "This club has not been at this level for decades ... this squad has lifted the club to a higher level."[18]

Ten years after being promoted from non-League football, Yeovil were promoted to the second tier of English football.[12][17] Yeovil Town ended the following season bottom of the Football League Championship, and were relegated back to League One.[19] Brentford finished second in League One in their next season, and gained automatic promotion to the Championship for the 2014–15 season.[20]

References
  1. "Referees". The Football League.
  2. "League One – 2012/13 – regular season". Soccerway. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  3. "League One end of season table for 2012–13 season". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  4. Woodcock, Ian (3 May 2013). "Sheffield United 1–0 Yeovil Town". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  5. Mitchell, Brendon (6 May 2013). "Yeovil Town 2–0 Sheffield United". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  6. "Swindon Town 1–1 Brentford". BBC Sport. 4 May 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  7. Stevens, Rob (6 May 2013). "Brentford 3–3 Swindon Town (Agg 4–4, Pens 5–4)". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  8. Foster, pp. 207, 212
  9. Foster, pp. 201, 205, 215, 216
  10. Foster, p. 217
  11. "Brentford". Football Club History Database. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  12. "Yeovil Town". Football Club History Database. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  13. "Brentford – 2012/13 – Player Appearances". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  14. "Yeovil Town – 2012/13 – Player Appearances". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  15. "Brentford football club: record v Yeovil Town". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  16. "Match Official Appointments". English Football League. 6 May 2013. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  17. Steinberg, Jacob (19 May 2013). "Yeovil battle past Brentford and head to Championship for first time". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  18. Moody, Graham (20 May 2013). "Yeovil players to get chance in Championship". The Times. p. 92. Retrieved 22 January 2021 – via Gale.
  19. "League Championship table at close of 2014–15 season". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  20. "League One – 2013/14 – regular season". Soccerway. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  • Foster, Richard (2015). The Agony & The Ecstasy. Ockley Books. ISBN 978-1-910906-00-2.
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