May 19, 2024
The League Two Play-Off Final unexpectedly saw Crewe Alexandra meeting Crawley Town, as the sides that finished sixth and seventh in the regular season overcame the sides that had finished above them in the table.
Crewe remarkably halted the Doncaster Rovers juggernaut that had won 19 and drawn one of their last 20 matches, including a first leg 2-0 play-off win at Crewe. However, two early goals in the return leg levelled the tie, and with neither side being able to make a further breakthrough the game went to a penalty shoot-out, which Crewe won 4-3.
Crawley were a revelation in their tie against MK Dons, convincingly winning the home first leg 3-0, and then were outstanding in romping to a 5-1 victory in the return for an 8-1 aggregate triumph, which was apparently the biggest winning margin in EFL play-offs since they were introduced.
Being born and raised in Crawley, it was an opportunity to witness Crawley’s first ever visit to Wembley ! It would also be Fatbear’s first Football League match since the Covid Lockdowns………….
Previous Visits To Wembley
Working in Stonebridge Park in the 1980s and 1990s, it was convenient to attend matches at Wembley, being able to walk-up from the office to the stadium, and then driving home from the office car park afterwards, usually avoiding most of the traffic.
My first visit to Wembley Stadium was against East Germany in September 1984, when Bryan Robson scored the only goal in a 1-0 win. I saw England play 22 times at the old Wembley, including the last game before it was demolished and rebuilt, the 0-1 defeat to Germany.
The only ever other England defeat I saw at Wembley was my previous visit, the 0-1 loss to Scotland in the Euro 2000 play-offs, where a 2-0 win at Hampden in the first leg was sufficient for England to proceed to the finals.
I was able to watch three of England’s matches in Euro 1996, the 1-1 draw with Switzerland, the 2-0 victory over Scotland and the penalty shoot-out triumph over Spain in the quarter finals after a 0-0 draw. I was also present for the Euro 96 final, where Germany beat the Czech Republic 2-1 thanks to Oliver Bierhoff’s golden goal.
Three other finals I attended at Wembley were the 1990/91 Division Two ( as was ) Play-off final where Brighton lost 1-3 to Notts County due to a Tommy Johnson hat-trick, the 1992 European Cup Final where Barcelona beat Sampdoria 1-0 with a Ronald Koeman free-kick in extra time, and the 1993 European Cup Winners Cup Final between Parma and Royal Antwerp, where the Italian side were victorious 3-1.
I have made one visit to the “new” Wembley after it re-opened, when a Manchester City supporting friend got me a ticket for the 2012/13 FA Cup Final, when Wigan caused an upset by beating Manchester City 1-0. In the chaos to catch the train home afterwards, the heavens opened and we got drenched !
Watching Crawley Town
The first Crawley match I can remember being taken to was in August 1969, when in their first home match after being promoted to the Southern League Premier Division, they drew 0-0 with Romford at Town Mead. I only watched two more games that season but was virtually an ever present for the next 10 years, through the glory days of the goals from Phil Basey and Eric Whittington and the goal-keeping of John Maggs, and the FA Cup First Round matches at home to Chelmsford City and Exeter City. There were also the low points of several seasons at the bottom or the lower reaches of Southern League Division One. I was there when Dartford won 10-0 in a Floodlight cup tie………..
I stopped watching Crawley when I went to University, but after starting work in London I would watch a handful of games every season, including FA Cup ties at Brighton, Exeter, Hayes, Met Police ( twice ), Hampton, Erith, Worcester, Sutton, Barton Rovers, Horsham and Tring, and home Cup ties against Northampton, Horsham, Bromley, Merthyr ( twice ), Hastings, Yeovil and Barnet plus, of course, some league games, many of them against Wealdstone.
Moving abroad prevented me from watching Crawley for a dozen years or so but since returning to England I have watched some of the more local games to where I now live, including 4 visits to Cheltenham, three at Wycombe Wanderers and Oxford United, plus Brentford, and Coventry City when they played at Northampton. I also saw Crawley’s first ever Football League match, a 2-2 draw at Port Vale in August 2011.
Watching Crewe Alexandra
I had only seen Crewe on one previous occasion, travelling to Gresty Road in January 1995 to see Crewe thrash Brighton & Hove Albion 4-0 in Division Two as it was called at the time ie the third division of English Football. The Crewe side that day included Danny Murphy, Neil Lennon and Dele Adebola.
Crawley This Season
Crawley were amongst the favourites for relegation this season. The 2022/23 season had been one to forget, finishing in 22nd place, three points ahead of Hartlepool. A 2-0 win at Hartlepool three games from the end of the season had been decisive in the battle to stay up, and safety was confirmed a game later with 0-0 dull draw at home to Walsall, not that any Crawley fan complained about the lack of entertainment that day.
Crawley’s squad had been weakened during that season by the departure of many of their senior players due to a combination of the fallout of the John Yems racism case and getting high wage earners off the payroll. Manager Scott Lindsey, the third manager of the season, had to manage his small, injury prone squad wisely, and targeted the key games to pick-up points, and readily wrote-off games at Barrow and Mansfield, and the subsequent heavy defeats were irrelevant in the big scheme of things.
The signings made by Crawley during the summer hardly suggested ambition, with two players joining from National League South ( Klaidi Lolos from Oxford City and Jay Mukena from St Albans City, who had played against each other in the National League South play-off final ) and St Kitts & Nevis international Jay Williams signed from National League North side Brackley Town. Ade Adeyemo was recruited from Isthmian League South East Division side Cray Valley Paper Mills.
Two wingers were signed from the National League, Harry Forster from Bromley and Adam Campbell from Gateshead, and ex-Reading midfielder Liam Kelly had been released after Rochdale were relegated from the Football League. Danilo Orsi joined after being released by Grimsby as a replacement for last season’s top scorer and two goal saviour at Hartlepool, Dom Telford, who had been allowed to join Barrow. Defender Lawrence Maguire, brother of Harry, was deemed surplus to requirements by National League Chesterfield, so signed on a season long loan with League Two Crawley.
Against the odds, Crawley started the season well, winning 6 of their opening 10 league matches to sit in second place. The normal order seemed to have returned with just 6 victories in the next 20 games, as The Red Devils dropped to 15th in mid-February. With Jeremy Kelly then joining from second tier US side FC Tulsa, and Lolos finally getting an extended run in the side, 8 wins in 11 games propelled Crawley back up to 7th, including eye-catching away wins at Tranmere ( 3-1 ), Newport Country ( 4-0 ) and Mansfield ( 4-1 ). They remained in the final play-off slot despite then going 4 games without win, until a final day 2-0 home win over Grimsby secured their place in the promotion play-offs.
Including his hat-trick at MK Dons in the play-off semi-final, Orsi had scored 24 goals in all competitions this season, followed by Lolos with 14. Keeper Corey Addai had gathered some media attention for often playing like a right-back wearing gloves ! According to Transfermrkt, Jeremy Kelly was the most valuable player at €350K.
Average attendances at the Broadfield Stadium this season were 3,571, up from 3,106 in 2022/23.
Crewe Alexandra This Season
The Railwaymen were in their second consecutive season in League Two after finishing rock bottom in League One in 2021/22. Last season they finished in mid-table obscurity in 13th place.
Crewe didn’t appear to unduly strengthen their squad during the close season, although experienced centre-back Mickey Demitriou joined from Newport County and playmaker Jack Powell joined from Crawley, only to be ruled out in October for the rest of the season with a cruciate ligament injury. Demitriou had been on the losing side on his three previous appearances at Wembley, losing twice in the play-off finals with Newport, and an FA Cup tie against Tottenham when Spurs were playing at Wembley whilst White Hart Lane was being rebuilt.
A couple of astute loan signings were made though, with right-back Aaron Rowe joining for the season from Huddersfield and defender Ed Turns joined on loan from Brighton in the winter transfer window. Wycombe Polish keeper Max Srtyjek joined on an emergency loan in April, and was the hero of the penalty shoot-out in Doncaster, especially for earning a yellow card for throwing the Donny keeper’s water bottle with notes on the Crewe penalty takers into the crowd behind the goal !
Crewe had been in the upper echelons of the table for most of the season and started with just three defeats in their opening 19 games to sit in third place. They then went on a run of 6 games without a win to drop down to 7th, but then won 7 of their next 10 games to climb back into the top three. Unfortunately for them, a run of only 2 wins in their final 12 games saw them drop out of contention for automatic promotion and they needed a final day 1-1 draw at Colchester to ensure a place in the play-offs.
Ex-Tranmere striker Elliot Nevitt was their top scorer with 18 goals and had previously scored a hat-trick at Wembley, for Warrington Rylands in the FA Vase. Demitriou was next on 10 goals.
Of their other players that started in the second leg against Doncaster, three had come through their famed youth system ( Lewis Billington, Rio Adebasi and Joel Tabiner ), whilst forward Chris Long had Burnley, Brentford and Motherwell on his CV, Shilow Tracey was previously with Cambridge United and midfielder Conor Thomas was ex-Coventry, Swindon and Cheltenham.
Transfermrkt had two of the loanees as the most valuable players, rating Srtyjek at €600K and Turns at €400K.
The average attendance at Gresty Road, or the Mornflake Stadium as it is now known for Sponsorship reasons, was 5,090 compared to 4,289 last season.
Previous Meetings
These two sides first met in the 2011/12 season when they played out two 1-1 draws. However, in total Crewe have had the edge, with 12 wins against only three wins for Crawley, and five draws. Crewe were on a run of six wins and a draw in the last 7 meetings and won both encounters this season. Back in October, Crawley twice led at home but three second half goals gave Crewe a 4-2 win. At Gresty Road in February, a goal from Adebisi gave Crewe all three points in a close encounter.
Matchday information
The weather at the 13.00 kick-off time was sunny with the temperature around 20 degrees, but it felt warmer than that.
Bet365.com made Crawley strong favourites at Evens, with Crewe at 5/2 and the draw at 12/5.
Both sides were allocated up to 38,000 tickets each, with the prices ranging from £27 to £65 for audits, with half price for concessions ( OAPs and Under 16s ) although strangely the age was 65 for Crewe supporters but only 60 for Crawley. There were also price reductions for young adults ie 17-21 year olds.
However, the Ticketmaster booking system was shambolic. Category 1 tickets ( the most expensive ) were not initially made available, and it was very difficult to select a specify category 2 ticket, and in the end I had to let the system randomly allocate a ticket. I immediately received an email booking confirmation which stated the ticket would be sent by email up to 48 hours before kick-off, and the pdf with the ticket arrived on the Thursday evening.
On the Friday evening before the match it was said that Crawley had sold just over 16,000 tickets, with Crewe selling just over 14,000. Five blocks of seats on the far lower tier were empty, and surprisingly, a long line of stewards were in place on both sides, presumably to prevent anyone trying to spread out into more space. My seat had a pretty decent amount of space and didn’t feel cramped, and the view was good.
My off-peak return train ticket to Wembley was £28, and the match programme cost £10, but Wembley is a cashless venue so I had to pay for it by card.
The Crawley Fan Zone had Camden Hills beers on sale for £7.50 with Budweiser and Magners at £7.25, and wines were £9.90, but I didn’t see what the measure was. The South African Street Food stall was selling food for astonishing prices. BBQ Crispy Chicken was £13.10, Chicken Curry Wraps were £11.50, Joburg Stack Burgers were £12, and Chips were £4.90.
Prices inside the stadium were actually better value. There were several craft ales available for £7.25 which is not that much more expensive than my locals in Oxfordshire. Budweiser and Brakespear’s pale ale were £6.99. Gin and Tonics were £9.00. Pies were £5.75 and Cumberland Sausages were £8.30.
Crewe were in their usual red shirts with white shorts whilst Crawley were in a change kit of all white, a colour they had worn to clinch three previous promotions.
After a full season without VAR, including the play-off semi-finals, it was announced that it would be in operation for the play-off final. This would prove to play a crucial role in the game !
Crawley made one change to the side that started at MK Dons with Kellan Gordon replacing the injured Harry Forster. Crewe were unchanged from the side that took to the field at Doncaster.
Match Report
Crawley kicked off and fairly quickly looked to play keeper Addai into the right back position, but Crewe were primed for this with Nevitt immediately closing him down and forcing the clearance to go into touch for a Crewe throw-in.
Crawley had most of the early possession but neither side looked like creating any danger. The first attack of the match came in the 6th minute when Crewe’s Tracey got past Jeremey Kelly on the right wing, but his cross was straight at Addai, who made a comfortable catch.
A minute later a long cross-field ball from Addai led to a nice move involving Jeremy Kelly, Campbell, Orsi and Campbell again but the final pass was intercepted by Adebisi who launched a swift counter attack for Crewe, but Williams was covering back for Crawley to avert any danger. At this point Adebisi was looking lively for Crewe and looked a danger on the left.
With 10 minutes played Liam Kelly was scythed down close to half-way line, but no card was shown by the referee, and I didn’t see who the offender was. Williams was then surrounded by three Crewe players and looked likely to lose possession but was perhaps a shade fortunate to be awarded a free-kick.
Demetriou then went marauding down the left for Crewe but his cross into the 6 yard box was easily claimed by Addai. At the other end, Turns was forced to make an acrobatic clearance to a cross from the right-wing, and when Crawley reworked the ball to Liam Kelly, the 25 yard effort went narrowly over the bar.
With 16 minutes on the clock Tabiner ran into a dead-end but was awarded a free-kick after going to the floor. However, he wasted the free-kick, which was overhit and went off for a goal-kick to Crawley.
Crawley then responded with a lovely flowing move with first time passes between Maguire, the two Kellys, Orsi and Liam Kelly again but the ex-Rochdale man’s effort on goal lacked power and Stryjek dived to make the save.
The first yellow card of the match arrived in the 18th minute when Rowe chopped down Maguire close to the half-way line.
In the first twenty minutes, Crawley seemed to have a deliberate ploy of cross-field balls from the right to the left presumably thinking Billington against Jeremy Kelly was a potential opportunity ?
After twenty minutes Crawley had a throw-in deep into Alex territory and the Railwaymen brought all their players back to defend, but although Williams got his head to the throw, he was strangely judged to have fouled despite being ahead of the defender.
Crawley were getting on top and starting to probe. Wright’s long ball down the right-hand channel was just a little too strong for Gordon to keep in play, and a minute later Williams’ chip down the right saw Gordon crowded out by the Crewe defence for a goal-kick. Liam Kelly’s chip was then just a fraction too heavy for Campbell, and Stryjek was off his line to gather.
Then just like a game of cricket, the two sides took a drink break. However, Crawley were still on top and Lolos received a pass from Liam Kelly, cut back inside onto his left foot, but again the shot from outside the area lacked power, and Stryjek made a regulation save. Liam Kelly was the game’s most prominent player, but another attempted killer pass was a fraction too long for Orsi and again Stryjek dived on the through ball.
Crewe though started to get into the match and a free-kick into the danger zone was unconvincingly cleared by the Crawley defence for a throw-in. Demetriou’s long throw was headed away by Maguire, and when Crewe reworked the ball back out to the left, Adebisi’s cross was headed away by Conroy ahead of Nevitt.
Crewe were enjoying a good spell and another long throw by Demetriou was headed clear by Maguire and with Orsi about to make a dangerous break, Crawley were awarded a free-kick in their own area, with no advantage played by the referee.
After 36 minutes, Gordon pushed the ball past Adebisi and then ran into the Crewe left-back, but the referee deemed there was no foul and a goal-kick accrued for the Railwaymen.
Crewe’s best chance of the game to date came in the 37th minute when Nevitt was able to slip away from Williams, and his 20 yard effort was pushed past the post by the diving Addai. The corner wasn’t dealt with by the Crawley defence and a stabbed shot from 8 yards was blocked, and eventually cleared for a Crewe throw.
Demetriou then released Thomas down the right but his shot was blocked and eventually the linesman’s flag was raised for offside. Nevitt then produced a delightful flick with the outside of his right foot to put Adebisi in space but good defending by Wright won a goal-kick for the Red Devils.
It was therefore slightly against the run of play when Crawley took the lead. Another flowing move saw Liam Kelly find Orsi inside the Crewe area, and the striker wriggled past Turns. Would he ever shot ? Yes, it seemed like an age but after great composure he fabulously finished with the outside of his right foot from 12 yards sent the ball past Stryjek and into the corner of the net ! 1-0 after 41 minutes.
Crawley were now rampant, and Lolos released Gordon down the right. Orsi was able to hold off Demetriou to allow the low cross to reach Jeremy Kelly but his first-time effort deflected off a defender to go narrowly wide for a corner. When the set-piece was played into the area, it bounced awkwardly high into the area and although Maguire got his head to the ball it sailed over the bar. Maguire hit the deck and appealed for a foul, but the referee ignored his claims.
Demetriou then released Long down the right, and although the Crewe striker was at least 5 yards offside, the linesman was 10 yards out of position and in no position to give the offside. Fortunately for Crawley the effort was blocked and cleared for a throw, which Addai leapt high into the air to claim.
Crawley finished the half strongly, the two Kelly’s combined to set-up Lolos, but his 25 yard effort flew a few feet wide, then Wright delivered a long free-kick across the Crewe area for Conroy to head back across goal, but the linesman’s flag was raised for offside.
At the half-time interval, Crawley deserved their one goal lead, but there was a long way to go.
Thirty seconds into the second half Crawley looked to be in trouble after giving away possession close to their area, but Conroy was adjusted to have been fouled and Crawley had a free-kick.
Gordon then got past Adebisi on the right-wing but his cross was headed away. Crawley managed to get the ball back to Gordon, but this time his cross was deflected off Adebisi for a corner. The set-piece was played short and wasted.
Long then made a dangerous run for Crewe and got past Wright, but Conroy was covering and was able to play the ball back to Addai.
The game’s controversial moment occurred in the 51st minute. Campbell needlessly played a pass back to no one in particular, which Long latched onto and headed for goal. The ex-Motherwell man was clear and attempted to go around Addai and then fell to the floor. Referee Ben Toner awarded a penalty but with a couple of Crawley defenders making the TV screen signs, VAR intervened, and the referee was sent to the pitch side monitor to review. After some deliberation, the decision was reversed, and the TV screen in the ground showed a replay which showed Addai had got his foot to the ball and there had been no contact with Long, who had clearly dived. Fortunately, VAR was there today to overturn a clear miscarriage.
Confusion continued as the referee then awarded a corner, before deciding it was a goal-kick to Crawley. Perhaps in all the confusion the referee forgot to show Long a yellow card for simulation.
In the 57th minute, Demetriou attempted but failed to prevent Orsi was getting to a long ball, but the referee awarded a soft foul against Orsi on the keeper.
Crawley still had the upper hand. Another cross from Gordon was deflected for a corner, from which Gordon showed good control to brush past two defenders only to see his goal bound effort pushed away by Stryjek.
Gordon continued to be in the action, and another ball in from the right found Lolos, and although the ball struck the arm of a Crewe defender, the referee deemed it not to worthy of handball and a penalty. Gordon then combined with Orsi in another flowing move, but a great tackle from Adebisi prevented more danger at the expense of a throw-in.
In a rare foray into the Crawley half, Adebisi sent a cross from a promising position far too long and off for a goal-kick to Crawley.
Both sides started to make substitutions, and Crawley surprising took off Gordon, who up till then had been a thorn in the Crewe left-hand side.
After 66 minutes Tabiner entered the referee’s notebook after bringing down Jeremy Kelly after a nice 1:2 with Lolos. The free-kick was headed out by the Crewe defence as far as substitute Adeyemo, who lashed a 20 yard effort over the bar.
Whilst Crewe had created very little, there was always the possibility that Crawley would make a defensive clanger, and Williams duly obliged in the 68th minute. With ample opportunity to play the ball forward, Williams inexplicably decided to turn and play back towards his goal, where Long was lurking. Fortunately for Crawley, Long wasted a good position.
Despite this, it was Crawley who were looking the most likely to score the second goal and Liam Kelly made a strong run from the half-way line and slid the ball to Darcy, whose 20 yard shot was deflected over the bar. A minute later another good move saw Lolos play in Darcy, but his first time effort curled narrowly over the bar.
After 72 minutes, the teams took another drinks break, and Crewe made two more substitutions. The break didn’t change the pattern of play as Jeremy Kelly got to the left-hand by-line but his cross was too high for Darcy. The ball was reworked to Liam Kelly on the edge of the area, but his effort was tipped over the bar by Stryjek. The corner was headed away and for a moment Crewe looked to have a dangerous counterattack but a good tackle re-won possession for Crawley and they forced another corner.
As the game entered the last 10 minutes, Rowe cut in from the right and sent a bullet shot towards the Crawley goal, but Maguire was bravely in the way to head away. Crewe’s best chance was created in the 83rd minute. Kirk floated a ball into the Crawley area for Demetriou to run onto but his header from a tight angle was pushed away by Addai at close range, who then claimed the loose ball.
It was to be an important miss as two minutes later Crawley doubled their lead. Conroy stepped past Nevitt and delivered a fabulous defensive splitting pass through the heart of the Crewe defence for Liam Kelly to run clear. His attempt to give Orsi a far post tap in was prevented by Demetriou, but the rebound fell kindly for Kelly, and with Stryjek on the floor having been committed to attempt to stop the ball to Orsi, Kelly placed the ball into the empty net from a tight angle. 2-0 after 85 minutes.
Crawley looked home and hosed at this point but their fans gasped when 10 minutes of added time were announced. To be fair the VAR penalty decision had taken nearly 4 minutes, and the drinks break nearly three minutes, so it wasn’t too unreasonable.
Crewe attacked for all of their lives worth, but lacked quality in the final third. Kirk played in Leigh, but his cross was appalling, then when a cross from the right reached Kirk, his volley went into the ground for an easy save for Addai. Turns then sent a long-range effort a couple of feet over the bar. Adebisi then stepped inside Adeyemo, but only to send a ball straight at Addai for another routine save.
The final minutes saw Crawley mostly time wasting near the corner flag, but Orsi surprised the Crewe backline by instead cutting back inside past two defenders, but Stryjek made a fine save to prevent another goal.
At the final whistle, Crawley had deservedly on the day achieved promotion to League One having dominated most of the game, and in Liam Kelly had by some distance the man of the match. Crewe were disappointing and didn’t really show up on the day.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa0zJPZYGVo
Crawley Town : Addai – Wright, Conroy, Maguire – Gordon ( Adeyemo ), Williams, L. Kelly, J. Kelly ( Tsaroulla ) – Campbell ( Darcy ) , Orsi, Lolos ( Roles )
Crewe Alexandra : Stryjek – Billington (Holicek ), Turns, Demetriou, Adebisi – Tracey ( Baker-Richardson ), Thomas ( Austerfield ), Rowe, Tabiner ( Leigh ) – Long ( Kirk ), Nevitt
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