2010 Football League Two play-off final

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2010 Football League Two play-off final
England mai 2007 040.jpg
Wembley Stadium
Event 2009–10 Football League Two
Date30 May 2010
Venue Wembley Stadium, London
Referee James Linington
Attendance32,054
2009
2011

The 2010 Football League Two play-off final was an association football match played on 30 May 2010 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Dagenham & Redbridge and Rotherham United. The match determined the fourth and final team to gain promotion from Football League Two, English football's fourth tier, to Football League One. The top three teams of the 2009–10 Football League Two season gained automatic promotion to League One, while the teams placed from fourth to seventh took part in play-off semi-finals; the winners competed for the final place for the 2010–11 season in League One. Rotherham United finished in fifth place while Dagenham & Redbridge ended the season in seventh position. They defeated Aldershot Town and Morecambe, respectively, in the semi-finals.

Contents

The final, refereed by James Linington, kicked off around 3 p.m. in front of 32,054 spectators. Both sides had early chances to score but in the 38th minute, a low cross from Damien McCrory found Paul Benson in space who scored with a curling shot into the bottom corner of the Rotherham goal. Within a minute Rotherham's Ryan Taylor ran between two defenders to head past Tony Roberts from a Kevin Ellison cross, making the score 11 at half time. Danny Green put Dagenham back into the lead eleven minutes after the restart with a low strike past Andy Warrington in the Rotherham goal. Taylor scored the equaliser in the 61st minute from inside the Dagenham penalty area. With 20 minutes remaining, Rotherham failed to clear a corner and the ball fell to John Nurse whose shot took a deflection off Ellison, past Warrington and into the net to make it 32. No further goals were scored and Dagenham were promoted to League One.

Dagenham & Redbridge ended their following season in 21st position in League One and were relegated back to League Two. Rotherham ended the next season in ninth place in League Two, two places below the 2011 play-offs.

Route to the final

Football League Two final table, leading positions [1]
PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
1 Notts County 46271279631+6593
2 Bournemouth 46258136144+1783
3 Rochdale 46257148248+3482
4 Morecambe 462013137364+973
5 Rotherham United 462110155552+373
6 Aldershot Town 462012146956+1372
7 Dagenham & Redbridge 462012146958+1172

Rotherham United finished the regular 2009–10 season in fifth place in Football League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system, two places ahead of Dagenham & Redbridge. Both therefore missed out on the three automatic places for promotion to Football League One and instead took part in the play-offs to determine the fourth promoted team. Rotherham United finished nine points behind Rochdale (who were promoted in third place), ten behind Bournemouth (who were promoted in second place), and twenty behind league winners Notts County. Dagenham & Redbridge ended the season one point behind Rotherham United. [1]

Dagenham & Redbridge's opponents in their play-off semi-final were Morecambe with the first match of the two-legged tie taking place on 16 May 2010 at Victoria Road in Dagenham. Paul Benson scored the opening goal of the game after four minutes for Dagenham after Morecambe's goalkeeper Barry Roche pushed out Josh Scott's header. Scott then scored a 19-minute hat-trick to make it 40 with more than half an hour remaining. Benson scored his second and Dagenham's fifth midway through the second half; before Scott scored his fourth three minutes later. The match ended 60 and Dagenham became the first team to score more than five goals in the first leg of a league play-off semi-final. [2] The second leg took place four days later at Christie Park in Morecambe. After a goalless first half, Mark Duffy's volley from close range made it 10 to Morecambe in the 81st minute before Benson headed in an equaliser four minutes later. One minute into stoppage time Dave Artell's header made the final score 21 to Morecambe, but Dagenham progressed to the final with a 72 aggregate win. [3]

Rotherham United faced Aldershot Town in their semi-final and the first leg was played on 15 May 2010 at the Recreation Ground in Aldershot. The home side's Marvin Morgan had the best chance of the first half but his shot was saved by the Rotherham goalkeeper Andy Warrington. Midway through the first half, Aldershot's goalkeeper Jamie Young was stretchered off with an injury and replaced by Mikhael Jaimez-Ruiz. With two minutes of the match remaining, Adam Le Fondre intercepted a backpass from Aaron Brown and shot past Jaimez-Ruiz to secure a 10 win for the visitors. [4] The second leg of the semi-final was held at the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield four days later. Ian Sharps hit the Aldershot crossbar, but Le Fondre headed home the rebound from close range to give Rotherham the lead just before half time. Midway through the second half, Kevin Ellison's header from a Nicky Law cross beat Jaimez-Ruiz to make it 20 which was the final score. Rotherham won the tie 30 on aggregate and qualified for the final. [5]

Match

Background

Danny Green (pictured in 2015) scored Dagenham's second goal in the final. MK Dons Vs Barnsley (16362809512).jpg
Danny Green (pictured in 2015) scored Dagenham's second goal in the final.

This was Rotherham United's third appearance in the play-offs. They had suffered relegation to the fourth tier of English football when they lost to Swansea City in the semi-finals of the 1988 Football League play-offs, and lost to Leyton Orient in a penalty shootout in the semi-finals of the 1999 play-off. Rotherham had been relegated from League One in the 2006–07 season and had been given a series of points deductions for entering administration on two separate occasions between 2006 and 2008. [6] Dagenham were promoted from non-League football for the first time in their history when they finished top of the 2006–07 Football Conference, and had played in League Two since. They had not participated in the Football League play-offs before, although had played in the 2003 Football Conference play-off final at the Britannia Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent where they lost 32 to Doncaster Rovers. [7] Rotherham had won both games between the sides during the regular season with a 20 victory at the Don Valley Stadium in February 2010 and a 10 win at Victoria Road the following month. [8]

Rotherham's top scorer during the regular season was Le Fondre with 27 goals (25 in the league and 2 in the FA Cup) followed by Ellison with 10 (8 in the league, 1 in the FA Cup and 1 in the League Cup). [9] Dagenham's leading marksmen were Benson with 18 goals (17 in the league, 1 in the FA Cup), Danny Green with 13 (all in the league) and Scott with 11 (10 in the league, 1 in the League Cup). [10]

The final was refereed by James Linington. [11] Rotherham were considered favourites to win by bookmakers. [12] Both sides adopted a 4–4–2 formation, and both starting elevens were unchanged from their semi-final second legs. [13] [14] The match was broadcast live in the UK on Sky Sports. [13]

Summary

The match kicked off around 3 p.m. on 30 May 2010 at Wembley Stadium in London in front of 32,054 spectators. [11] Dagenham dominated the early stages, with Rotherham's goalkeeper Andy Warrington saving a shot from Green. Rotherham then had chances to score with Pablo Mills missing a header before three separate efforts from Ryan Taylor all failed to produce a goal. In the 30th minute, Romain Vincelot's bicycle kick was saved by Warrington before Sharps received the first yellow card of the match for unsporting behaviour: Warrington kept the resulting free kick from Green out. Three minutes later, Le Fondre was also booked, also for unsporting behaviour. In the 38th minute, a low cross from Damien McCrory found Benson in space who scored with a curling shot into the bottom corner of the Rotherham goal. Rotherham levelled the game within a minute as Taylor ran between two defenders to head past Tony Roberts from an Ellison cross, making the score 11 at half time. [15]

Neither side made any changes to their personnel during the interval. Green put Dagenham back into the lead eleven minutes after the restart with a low strike past Warrington and was booked a minute later for a foul on Danny Harrison. In the 60th minute, Harrison shot over the Dagenham crossbar before Taylor scored the equaliser a minute later from inside the Dagenham penalty area, before being booked in the 57th minute for a foul on Danny Harrison. With 20 minutes remaining, Rotherham failed to clear a corner and the ball fell to Jon Nurse whose shot took a deflection off Ellison, past Warrington and into the net to make it 32. Two minutes after scoring, Nurse was taken off and substituted for Graeme Montgomery in the first change of the afternoon. Five minutes later Marcus Marshall came on for Mills. On 83 minutes, Scott was replaced by Phil Walsh for Dagenham. Benson's shot from inside the penalty area went wide of the Rotherham goal before Abdulai Bell-Baggie was brought on for Ellison. Vincelot was then shown the yellow card for a foul on Gavin Gunning. The match ended 32 and Dagenham were promoted to League One. [15]

Details

Dagenham & Redbridge 3–2 Rotherham United
Report Taylor Soccerball shade.svg39', 61'
Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 32,054
Referee: James Linington
Kit left arm.svg
Kit body bluesides.png
Kit body.svg
Kit right arm.svg
Kit shorts.svg
Kit socks bluetop.png
Kit socks long.svg
Dagenham & Redbridge
Kit left arm.svg
Kit body.svg
Kit right arm.svg
Kit shorts.svg
Kit socks whitetop.png
Kit socks long.svg
Rotherham United
GK1 Tony Roberts
DF4 Scott Doe
DF6 Mark Arber
MF33 Peter Gain
DF3 Damien McCrory
DF19 Abu Ogogo
MF20 Romain Vincelot Yellow card.svg 87'
MF7 Danny Green Yellow card.svg 57'
MF9 Jon Nurse Sub off.svg 72'
FW14 Paul Benson
FW10 Josh Scott Sub off.svg 83'
Substitutes:
GK30 Chris Lewington
DF15 Anwar Uddin
MF24 Billy Bingham
MF17 Darren Currie
MF22 Graeme Montgomery Sub on.svg 72'
MF26 Tommy Tejan-Sie
FW31 Phil Walsh Sub on.svg 83'
Manager:
John Still
GK1 Andy Warrington
DF14 Mark Lynch
DF6 Nick Fenton
DF25 Pablo Mills Sub off.svg 77'
DF19 Gavin Gunning
MF5 Ian Sharps Yellow card.svg 33'
MF4 Danny Harrison
MF15 Kevin Ellison Sub off.svg 86'
MF10 Nicky Law
FW39 Adam Le Fondre Yellow card.svg 36'
FW20 Ryan Taylor Yellow card.svg 62'
Substitutes:
GK30 Jamie Annerson
DF3 Jamie Green
MF23 Josh Walker
MF21 Marcus Marshall Sub on.svg 77'
MF27 Abdulai Bell-Baggie Sub on.svg 86'
MF16 Paul Warne
FW22 Drewe Broughton
Manager:
Ronnie Moore
Jon Nurse (pictured in 2013) scored the winning goal. Jon Nurse 16-02-13.png
Jon Nurse (pictured in 2013) scored the winning goal.
Statistics [15]
Dagenham & RedbridgeRotherham United
Goals32
Total shots1112
Shots on target86
Ball possession48%52%
Corner kicks75
Fouls committed158
Yellow cards23
Red cards00

Post-match

Winning manager John Still said "We'll probably be the biggest-ever favourites to be relegated but this is a fairy story". [16] His counterpart Ronnie Moore suggested disappointment in his defence, saying that "if you defend like we have you're not going to win ... We should've gone up but we're still here ... We have let ourselves down a bit at the final hour." [17] Roberts, Dagenham's 40-year-old goalkeeper, said: "We are a pub team from Essex but look at us now ... Years ago we were playing Charlton trying to knock them out of the FA Cup as a non-league team, next year we are going to play Charlton in the league, I can't believe it". [17] Dagenham goalscorer Green, who had been signed by Still from sixth-tier Bishop's Stortford of the National League South, described it as the "best day of my life". [18] Despite his two goals, Rotherham's Taylor said he was disappointed: "Scoring twice at Wembley is a great achievement, but we haven't gone up so it doesn't mean anything." [18]

Dagenham & Redbridge ended their following season in 21st position in League One and were relegated back to League Two. [19] Rotherham end the next season in ninth place in League Two, two places below the 2011 play-offs. [20]

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