2013 Conference Premier play-off final

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2013 Conference Premier play-off final
Newport County Conference National play-off winners 2013.jpg
Newport County lift the Conference Premier play-off winners' trophy
Event 2012–13 Football Conference
Date5 May 2013
Venue Wembley Stadium, London
Man of the Match Christian Jolley (Newport County)
Referee Michael Bull
Attendance36,346
2012
2014

The 2013 Conference Premier play-off final, known as the 2013 Blue Square Bet Premier play-off final for sponsorship purposes, was a football match between Wrexham and Newport County on 5 May 2013 at Wembley Stadium in London. It was the eleventh Conference Premier play-off final and the first ever Wembley Final to feature two teams from Wales.

Contents

After not having played in Wembley for 149 years the match represented the second time in the 2012–13 season for Wrexham who reached the final with a 5–2 aggregate win over Kidderminster Harriers following their appearance in the 2013 FA Trophy Final. The final also represented Newport County's second trip to Wembley in less than a year having played in the 2012 FA Trophy Final. Newport had beaten Grimsby Town 2–0 over two legs to reach the play-off final.

The attendance of the match was 36,346. One of the highest attendances in a non league play-off final. Around 25,000 of the fans were supporting Wrexham.

Newport County won the match 2–0 to secure promotion to League Two, re-entering the Football League after a 25-year absence. [1] It was the first time in Conference history that a team had not conceded a single goal in the play-offs. [2]

Whereas the players in the Wrexham team were new to the play-off final, the County team had seven players with previous play-off final experience: Alan Julian had featured for Stevenage Borough in the 2005 final. It was the second successive final for Aaron O'Connor who had featured for Luton Town in the 2012 final. Danny Crow had featured in both the 2009 final for Cambridge United and the 2011 final for Luton Town. It was the fourth final for Robbie Willmott who had featured for Cambridge United in 2009 and Luton Town in the 2011 and 2012 finals. Winning the final for a second time were Ismail Yakubu, Lee Minshull and Christian Jolley who were all part of the victorious Wimbledon team in the 2011 final.

The sides next meeting in a league fixture would not come until the 2023-24 EFL League 2 season. With Wrexham taking a 2-0 win at the Stōk Cae Râs and Newport County taking a 1-0 win at Rodney Parade. Despite County’s win over Wrexham, they did not achieve promotion to the EFL League 1. Wrexham, however, finished 2nd in the league and gained back to back promotions after winning the National League title in the 2022-23 season.

11 years after this final, Newport County remain in League 2 and Wrexham are now in League 1 after only spending 1 season in League 2.

Match

Summary

Both teams started the game nervously with Wrexham having the better of the opening exchanges. On 15 minutes Brett Ormerod saw an effort at goal dragged wide of the near post. A cross from Johnny Hunt in the 21st minute was met by Ormerod but his shot went over the bar. Towards the end of the first half Newport gained momentum with Christian Jolley's curled shot just wide of goal. The score remained 0–0 at half time.

In the second half Wrexham stepped up their game and nearly took the lead in the 59th minute when an initial shot from Andy Morrell was palmed by Lenny Pidgeley into the path of Ormerod who blasted over from six yards. Shortly afterwards Newport's Danny Crow was replaced with their leading goalscorer Aaron O'Connor. Wrexham's player-manager Morrell then replaced himself with Adrian Cieslewicz. As the game wore on both teams made further substitutions with Newport's Michael Flynn making way for Scott Donnelly in the 74th minute and Wrexham's Glen Little coming on for captain Dean Keates in the 80th minute.

As the game looked certain to go into extra time Jolley headed a warning shot just wide of goal in the 83rd minute. Wrexham failed to heed the warning and in the 86th minute a long up-field pass from Andy Sandell was headed backwards by Wrexham's David Artell into the path of Jolley who made no mistake in lifting it over the on-rushing Chris Maxwell and into the goal.

Wrexham replaced Jay Harris with Dele Adebola in the 89th minute and pushed every player up front, including goalkeeper Maxwell. They managed to force a number of corners in injury time but were caught on the break by Jolley who fed O'Connor. His initial left-footed shot was saved but he made no mistake with his right-footed follow-up to make the score 2–0 to County in the 4th minute of injury time. Two minutes later and the game was over.

Details

Wrexham 0–2 Newport County
Report
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Jolley Soccerball shade.svg86'
O'Connor Soccerball shade.svg90+4'
Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 16,346
Referee: Michael Bull
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Wrexham
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Newport County
GK24 Chris Maxwell
RB2 Stephen Wright
CB32 David Artell
CB6 Martin Riley
LB3 Neil Ashton
RM8 Jay Harris Sub off.svg 89'
CM12 Dean Keates (C)Sub off.svg 80'
CM14Joe Clarke
LM16Johnny Hunt
CF10 Brett Ormerod Yellow card.svg 64'
CF11 Andy Morrell Sub off.svg 69'
Substitutes:
GK13 Andy Coughlin
DF23 Chris Westwood
MF17 Glen Little Sub on.svg 80'
FW7Adrian CieslewiczSub on.svg 69'
FW31 Dele Adebola Sub on.svg 89'
Manager:
Andy Morrell
GK40 Lenny Pidgeley
CB5 Tony James
CB6 Ismail Yakubu
CB21 Byron Anthony
RM2 David Pipe (C)
CM8 Lee Minshull
CM30 Alex Gilbey Yellow card.svg 79'
CM17 Michael Flynn Sub off.svg 74'
LM13 Andy Sandell
CF23 Christian Jolley
CF9 Danny Crow Sub off.svg 63'
Substitutes:
GK1 Alan Julian
DF3 Andrew Hughes
MF26 Scott Donnelly Sub on.svg 74'
FW7 Aaron O'Connor Sub on.svg 63'
FW24 Robbie Willmott
Manager:
Justin Edinburgh

Match rules:

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

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References

  1. "Wrexham 0–2 Newport". BBC Sport. 5 May 2013.
  2. "Newport County victory over Wrexham puts them back into Football League". The Guardian. London. 5 May 2013. Retrieved 28 August 2013.