Premier League
Final table
SURVIVAL Sunday lived up to its SkySports-hyped billing for once as the Premier League relegation battle went right to the wire.
In the end, Carling Cup winners Birmingham City and, perhaps inevitably, Blackpool were the teams to drop but only after a dramatic and constantly-changing couple of hours.
After a quiet opening in all of the games, Blackburn Rovers struck first against fellow relegation candidates Wolverhampton Wanderers with Jason Roberts getting the goal.
But, at about the same time, Blackpool fell behind to champions Manchester United at Old Trafford, meaning Wolves were still safe.
That had changed by half-time, though, as Charlie Adam curled in a wonderful free-kick to bring the Seasiders level and Wolves conceded another two goals to trail 3-0 at Molineux.
It meant that, as the sides went into break, Wolves were going down with Wigan Athletic who were drawing 0-0 with Stoke City while Blackburn, Blackpool and Birmingham were safe.
There was early drama in the second half, though, as goal-shy Birmingham went 1-0 down against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane thanks to Roman Pavlyuchenko's strike.
The Russian's goal meant that the Blues were heading down with Wigan and that Wolves were off the hook despite their embarrassing first half performance.
Indeed, Blackpool's situation briefly got even better when Gary Taylor-Fletcher gave Ian Holloway's men a 2-1 lead but the leaky Tangerines defence soon gave Anderson too much space to make it 2-2.
A 74th-minute Ian Evatt own goal sent Blackpool tumbling back into the bottom three and spoilsport substitute Michael Owen then made sure of the demotion by scoring a fourth Man United goal.
Brave Blackpool's attempts of staying up were over but, even going into the last 10 minutes of the season, the other place remained undecided.
Wolves had improved their chances of staying up by closing the gap to 3-1 behind against Blackburn after a clever free-kick which allowed Jamie O'Hara to stroke the ball home.
However, their dreadful first half performance still looked like it was going to cost them when Birmingham grabbed an equaliser through Craig Gardner and Hugo Rodallega headed Wigan into the lead at Stoke.
Wigan withstood some late pressure from the Potters and held on to ensure there will be a seventh consecutive season of Premier League football at the DW Stadium next season.
And, then, it all changed between the Midlands clubs. First, Wolves pulled another goal back through a fine Stephen Hunt curler meaning the Molineux club, despite losing, were staying up all of a sudden - above the Blues on goals scored.
Birmingham knew that they had to score themselves but, as their game went into stoppage time and the centre-backs were sent forward on a desperate mission, Spurs applied a sucker punch.
Pavlyuchenko scored his second goal of the game and Birmingham were condemned to the Championship alongside Blackpool and West Ham United.
Wigan had worked some final-day magic once again while Wolves had stayed up despite defeat against Blackburn, who were never in serious trouble.
Rather oddly, of course, Birmingham will be in the Europa League with their conquerors Tottenham after their Carling Cup win in February as they became the first club since Norwich City in 1985 to win a Cup and go down.
The last-day results confirmed that Spurs finished above Liverpool in fifth, having suffered just one defeat in the league at home all season, as the Reds lost 1-0 to Aston Villa.
Above that battle, Manchester City continued their strong finish to the season with a 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers to claim third place ahead of Arsenal.
Indeed, Roberto Mancini's FA Cup winners ended the season level on points with runners-up Chelsea after the Blues lost their ninth league game 1-0 at Everton who finished seventh.
That result proved terminal for Carlo Ancelotti who was sacked by owner Roman Abramovich barely an hour after the game had ended.
Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger's Arsenal, with just two wins in their last 11 league games, only just rescued a point against Fulham thanks to Theo Walcott's late goal in a 2-2 draw.
And the fourth-placed finish for the Gunners means the London club will face a potentially tricky Champions League qualifier early next season.
The Championship
Final table
SWANSEA CITY will take on Reading in the Championship playoff final at Wembley after both clubs won the second leg of their semi finals to progress.
Both first-leg matches - Nottingham Forest v Swansea City and Reading v Cardiff City - had finished 0-0, leaving the two Welsh clubs with a clear advantage.
But, while Swansea coped with the pressure well, Cardiff could not and Dave Jones' men failed in the playoffs for a second consecutive season.
Swansea had survived playing the first leg with 10 men for virtually the whole game after Neil Taylor was sent off after 52 seconds.
Brendan Rogers' men seemed to cope quite well with their deficit in numbers in the first half but Billy Davies' Forest applied plenty of pressure after the break.
Their failure to make the breakthrough left Swansea confident that they would be able to win the tie at home in the second leg.
And it was no surprise to see the Swans make a cracking start in front of a lively atmosphere at the Liberty Stadium.
Leon Britton curled a brilliant opener before Stephen Dobbie sprinted past Guy Moussie to fire in a second.
However, the match was a much more even contest than the score suggested. Forest had two penalty appeals turned down and hit the woodwork three times through David McGoldrick, Lewis McGugan and Robbie Earnshaw.
Former Cardiff striker Earnshaw gave Forest the chance of forcing extra time with a goal 10 minutes before the end.
But it was confirmed that the Forest play-off hoodoo - four semi final defeats in four attempts - would continue when Darren Pratley scored from the half-way line with Lee Camp out of his goal.
Pratley's strike brought to an end a pulsating, quite breathtaking game which the other semi final could not match for drama.
After Cardiff had held Reading at home 0-0, the Bluebirds should have been favourites for the tie.
However, a poor late run of form in the season meant confidence was fragile and it took another hit when club captain Craig Bellamy was ruled out of the second leg altogether with a hamstring injury.
The Royals seized on Cardiff uncertainty as Shane Long put the Berkshire club ahead after a mix-up between Kevin McNaughton and his goalkeeper Stephen Bywater.
Long scored a second on the stroke of half-time from the penalty spot after Dekel Keinan had brought down Matt Mills with a shirt-tug.
And, with Cardiff struggling to make any impact, the tie was sealed in the closing minutes when Jobi McAnuff kept his balance to fire past Bywater after a 30-yard run.
Earlier, in the regular season, Queens Park Rangers had their promotion and league championship confirmed just minutes before their final league match.
Rangers had feared a points deduction after breaching regulations in the 2009 signing of Alejandro Faurlin.
But, after one-day delay in the verdict from the hearing, the FA decided not to take any points away from Neil Warnock's men but to fine them £875,000 instead.
Norwich City will join QPR and either Reading or Swansea in the Premier League next year while Sheffield United, Scunthorpe United and Preston North End were relegated to League One.
League One
Final Table
FREE-SCORING Peterborough United face Huddersfield Town in the League One playoff final at Old Trafford after both clubs scrambled through exciting semi finals.
Posh beat Milton Keynes Dons 2-0 at London Road to overturn a 3-2 deficit from the first leg.
Craig Mackail-Smith scored his 34th goal of the season to add to Grant McCann's early free-kick as Darren Ferguson's men gave themselves a chance of an immediate promotion back to the Championship.
It was a far cry from the first leg at Stadium:mk where the home-side scored three goals in nine minutes at the start of the second-half to take control of the tie.
However, Posh remained in touch in that game thanks to Mackail-Smith's early goal and McCann's late penalty, leaving them only one goal down going into the decisive second-leg.
The second-leg was barely decisive in the other semi final as Lee Clark's Huddersfield and Lee Bradbury's Bournemouth went toe-to-toe until the very end.
After the first leg had finished 1-1, this dramatic tie remained on a knife-edge as two Steve Lovell goals helped the Cherries twice come from behind to force the match into extra time.
Lee Peltier and a Danny Ward penalty had given the Terriers the lead but the west Yorkshire club fell behind for the first time in the tie early in extra time when Danny Ings headed Marc Pugh's inch-perfect cross.
However, Bournemouth's joy was short-lived when Antony Kay replied with another header to make it 3-3 on the night and 4-4 on aggregate.
Bournemouth were reduced to 10 men before the extra period was finished, Jason Pearce having been shown a straight red for a studs-up challenge, but Huddersfield could not take advantage.
And so, onto penalties which manager Clark had said his Huddersfield team had been practising.
The practice made perfect, so it seems, as the four Terriers players all scored while Bournemouth's Liam Feeney and Anton Robinson missed for the cruelest of exits. Huddersfield, meanwhile, extended their unbeaten league run to 27 games.
Another club who made a cruel exit in the regular season were Dagenham and Redbridge who, despite a tiny budget, still had hopes of survival going into the final day.
However, a 5-0 defeat at Peterborough on the final day ended the Daggers' dream as their hosts racked up their 106th league goal of the season.
Dagenham thus join Bristol Rovers, Plymouth Argyle and Swindon Town in League Two with Walsall and Notts County just surviving.
Gus Poyet's Brighton and Hove Albion had of course won the division ahead of second-placed Southampton who also gained automatic promotion.
League Two
Final Table
STEVENAGE have given themselves the chance of winning a second successive promotion in the League Two playoff final against Torquay United at Old Trafford.
The Boro, who won promotion as Blue Square Premier champions last season, have had a brilliant first year as a league club, knocking Newcastle United out of the FA Cup before finishing sixth.
That gave Graham Westley's men a playoff semi final place against Accrington Stanley who are also a fairly recent addition to the Football League.
But Stevenage proved stronger, taking advantage of two Stanley red cards to win the second-leg 1-0 for a 3-0 aggregate victory.
First half goals from Stacy Long and Joel Byrom had given Stevenage their comfortable first leg advantage but Stanley threatened a comeback at the Crown Ground.
That threat was ended once Joe Jacobson was sent off for a challenge on Lawrie Wilson and Sean McConville followed straightaway for an alleged punch.
Accrington's chances in the tie were effectively over and Chris Beardsley's late goal simply confirmed the Boro's progress.
Torquay, who were promoted from the Blue Square Premier themselves as recently as 2009, also enjoyed a relatively comfortable path to the final after a first-leg win against Shrewsbury.
The Gulls won 2-0 at Plainmoor thanks to first-half goals from Chris Zebroski and Eunan O'Kane, and a dominant display deserved even more goals.
The Shrews were well aware of their uphill task in the second leg and could not force an early breakthrough as the tie petered out as a contest.
It was a second disappointment for Shrewsbury in as many weeks after the Salop club only missed out on automatic promotion on the final day despite a 3-0 win over Oxford United.
That was because Wycombe Wanderers had held onto third spot with their own home win - a 3-1 success over Southend United - to join Chesterfield and Bury in League One next season.
But, while that came as no surprise, there was a shock at the other end of the table as Barnet pulled off a great escape.
The Bees won 1-0 at home to Port Vale thanks to Izale McLeod's penalty early in the second half while Lincoln City lost 3-0 against Aldershot at Sincil Bank to be relegated alongside Stockport County.
Blue Square Premier
Final Table
AFC WIMBLEDON reached the Football League just nine years after their formation following a dramatic penalty shootout win over Luton Town.
The Dons and the Hatters had finished in second and third in the final table so it was no surprise that they had beaten Fleetwood Town and Wrexham in the semi finals, respectively.
And, in the final itself at Eastlands, the two teams could not be separated after 120 minutes of action.
Dons' top scorer Danny Kedwell struck the decisive penalty, condemning Luton to a third successive season outside of the Football League.
For Wimbledon, though, this represents perhaps to end of the beginning of their task to regain their place at football's top table.
Their next aim: to get above Milton Keynes Dons - a task made all the more realistic by their rival's failure to progress through the League One playoffs. The two clubs are now just a single division apart.
No comments:
Post a Comment