Enterprise National League Play Off Final, Sunday 10th May
This has become an annual event me and my good mate Adam attend every year, grabbing an early bird deal in Club Wembley to bag a very decent seat in the blocks next to the Royal Box for only twenty quid, good value, and this year it saw Boreham Wood & Rochdale do battle to see who could grab promotion and join champions York City in the football league next season.
Boreham Wood had finished the season in fourth with ninety points and had to play a couple of games to reach this final, whereas Rochdale were seconds away from actually pipping York to the title before the Minstermen broke Rochdale's hearts by levelling in the 103rd minute of that huge title showdown at Spotlands, it's a wonder how Rochdale picked themselves up from that devastating heart break to actually win their semi final to give themselves a second shot at getting back into the football league after three years out following relegation in 2023.
The Dale amassed 106 points in the season but still failed to win the league after York managed 108 themselves, many felt it would be unfair if the runners up, who finished sixteen points above today's opponents in the table, and eleven above third placed Carlisle, would not earn their place back in the football league, but that's the rules currently, so they had to enter the lottery of the play offs if they wanted to grab that place back in the EFL.
Six teams therefore had hopes of joining York at the next level, Scunthorpe United, who finished in fifth place, defeated sixth placed Southend United in one of the eliminators, whereas Boreham Wood saw off seventh placed Forest Green Rovers in the other, setting up the semi finals that would be played at Rochdale and Carlisle United, Dale saw off Scunthorpe whilst Wood won on the road after extra time in Cumbria, setting up today's final at Wembley.
Now unlike Dale, who had a spent 102 years in the Football League until they fell out of it three years ago, Wood have never ever been there, they got very close a few years ago but lost out to Tranmere Rovers at this venue in the 2017/18 play off final, and in fact they have been down into the National League South before bouncing back, and this season they have managed to give themselves another shot at gaining promotion to the football league for the first time in their history.
No doubt most neutrals wanted Dale to get promoted though, especially after the season they had experienced, any other year they would have walked the league, but they had one more game to try and grab what they felt like a deserved promotion, but Wood on the other hand were trying to create history, so you could not begrudge them a go in the EFL as well, who could hold their nerve in this biggest of games for either side?
Well, Boreham Wood should have been in front inside a minute, getting behind the Rochdale backline but Leon Ayinde failed to beat Dale stopper Oli Whatmuff who made a terrific stop to deny the ex Dale player, but midway through the first half Wood had the breakthrough and the lead, and it was all down to excellent play from Abdul Abdulmalik who was increasing causing problems for the Dale backline,
The tricky winger danced his way past two Rochdale defenders before firing in a ball towards Matt Rush, and the striker managed to divert the ball off his chest and loop into the far corner of the net, and Adbulmalik almost made it 2-0 himself but saw a lovely curling effort superbly tipped over by Whatmuff who was keeping his side in the contest, Rochdale did have a couple of openings themselves but were largely on the back foot.
Wood passed up more opportunities after the restart and you felt they may come back to rue these missed chances as you felt Dale had to have a decent spell at some point as they had been rather poor so far in this contest, but when Wood did find that second goal in the 69th minute, the superb Abdulmalik finding the bottom corner after cutting inside onto his right foot and seeing his effort deflect beyond Whatmuff, you felt Wood had done enough to win this game and take a histortic promotion.
It was going to take something special for them to be denied now, Rochdale had offered very little and the Wood backline had stood firm with anything thrown at them, but, with 78 minutes on the clock, Dale gave themselves a life line, a long clearence from keeper Whatmuff saw a defender slip, allowing substitute Tyler Smith to get in and fire home, game on, and Dale had around fifteen minutes or so to find a leveller.
These National League Play Off finals are always dramatic, and this one was to be no different, six minutes were to be added on, and with about ten seconds of those remaining, Dale found a last gasp leveller to deny Wood promotion for now and send the game into extra time, Casey Pettit's ball in found Mani Dieseruvwe whose header went in off a defender and gave keeper Ted Curd no chance, and sent the Dale fans behind that goal wild, their them were beaten but had somehow pulled themselves back from nowhere to send this to extra time.
Wood were crushed, but they had to somehow get themselves up for an extra half hour and possibly penalties but you felt Dale had the momentum now, but in an extra time period that didn't really have the same drama as the second period, Wood were the ones who were pushing for a winner, but they could not muster one, and the game would go to spot kicks to determine who would join York City in the EFL.
Well, Whatmuff, who had been excellent in the game itself and had kept his side in the contest at times, was the hero in the shootout, he first of all saved Callum Reynolds effort in the first penalty of the shoot out, and then made a superb one handed stop to deny Rush, and at 3-1 to Dale, Wood needed to score to keep the shoot out going but saw Cameron Coxe hit the bar and Dale had somehow won this final and returned to the football league after three years out.
This will be a very painful one for Boreham Wood to take, they should have been out of sight at one stage, and were ten seconds away from winning it in normal time, a very bitter pill to swallow and their hopes of promotion to the EFL for the first time in their history was shattered, for Dale though maybe it was a deserved promotion after the season they had had, justice done maybe, but they were second best for large parts of this final, but they managed to get through it and earn their place in the Football League once again.
So, a dramatic afternoon at Wembley for one of these finals, to be expected after previous seasons when extra time and penalties are often required to separate sides, am absolutely gutted for Wood but pleased for Dale, it was certainly a very enjoyable watch.
Full time Boreham Wood 2 Rochdale 2 (aet; Rochdale won 3-1 on penalties)
No comments:
Post a Comment