Promotion Joy & Relegation Heartbreak: How Championship, League One & League Two Were Decided
The Football League served up a thrilling finale on Saturday, packed with promotion celebrations, heartbreaking near misses, and relegation despair.
Coventry City, Lincoln City and Bromley sealed silverware, several clubs booked their places in the post-season showdown, while others saw their Football League dreams shattered on a dramatic final day.
Championship
Automatic promotion
In addition to Coventry City, who had secured a long-awaited return to the Premier League with a couple of games to spare, Ipswich Town earned automatic promotion on the final day.
Kieran McKenna’s side finished the regular season a point clear of third-placed Millwall after beating Queens Park Rangers 3-0 at Portman Road on the final weekend.
Play-off spots
Despite winning three of their last four league games, including a 2-0 home triumph over Oxford United on Saturday, Millwall must navigate the play-offs if they’re to return to the top flight for the first time since the early 2000s.
The same applies to Southampton, whose unbeaten league run stretches to an outstanding 18 games following a 3-1 victory at Preston North End on the final day.
Meanwhile, Middlesbrough had a play-off spot booked before Gameweek 46, yet they spoiled Wrexham’s plan to continue their promotion streak with a dramatic 2-2 draw at the Racecourse Ground.
Indeed, Boro allowed Hull City to leapfrog the Robins into sixth, with the Tigers fighting back from a deficit to defeat Norwich City and halt an underwhelming run of six consecutive winless outings.
Relegation
Sheffield Wednesday never stood a chance of securing survival after suffering an 18-point deduction, but they at least avoided the ignominy of finishing the season with a negative points tally.
Nevertheless, the Owls couldn’t move from the bottom. Despite accruing 45 points more than Henrik Pedersen’s side, Leicester City failed to preserve their Championship status.
As a result, the King Power Stadium will host League One games next term, only a decade after the Foxes’ iconic Premier League success under Claudio Ranieri.
Finally, Oxford’s loss at The Den marked a sorrowful end to a disappointing season, as the Yellows couldn’t keep their head above water in their first season in the second tier since the beginning of the century.
League One
Automatic promotion
A 2-0 win at already-relegated Port Vale on the last matchday of the season only confirmed what was inevitable, as Lincoln secured historic Championship promotion.
Michael Skubala’s side amassed an eye-catching 103 points, leaving second-placed Cardiff City 12 points behind, as the two sides earned automatic promotion from the top two spots.
Play-off spots
Stockport City and Bradford City were in a prime position to lock down play-off spots heading into the final weekend, but they refused to take any chances, beating Barnsley and Exeter City, respectively.
Despite a 3-2 home loss to Luton Town, Bolton Wanderers will feature in the post-season mix at Wembley, and so will Stevenage after a crucial 1-0 home victory over Wigan Athletic.
Luton’s hard-earned victory at the Toughsheet Community Stadium was in vain, as they finished a point behind Boro in one of the most dramatic play-off races in recent memory.
Relegation
Doomed well before Gameweek 46, dead-last Northampton Town had nothing but pride left to play for against Plymouth, though they were keen to avoid the ignominy of being the only side to finish the season with less than ten wins.
They fell to a goal-glutted 3-2 home loss, finishing bottom of the table, six points adrift of 23rd-placed Rotherham United, who found themselves on the receiving end of the same scoreline at Wycombe Wanderers.
Port Vale suffered the same fate, as they stood no chance of securing safety ahead of the final round, unlike Exeter, whose survival hopes evaporated on the final day, courtesy of a 2-1 home defeat to Bradford.
League Two
Automatic promotion
Bromley and Milton Keynes Dons had the two most coveted spots in the standings in the bag going into the final weekend, with the latter earning their first League One promotion as the league winners.
The Ravens finished the season on a high, beating Walsall 3-1 at home to end a disappointing three-game winless streak, while MK Dons shared the spoils with Fleetwood Town in a 1-1 draw.
Interestingly, three sides were in contention for the last promotion place, and none managed to take three points in the last round, with Cambridge United, Salford City and Notts County all drawing on Saturday.
Despite failing to score in a dull 0-0 draw at Crew Alexandria, Cambridge edged Salford by the narrowest of margins, finishing the season just a point clear of the Ammies.
Play-off spots
Salford failed to pounce on Cambridge’s slip-up, as they drew 0-0 at Crawley Town and will have to seek promotion through the play-offs as a result of only their sixth league stalemate of the season.
Meanwhile, Notts County squandered a slender half-time lead at home to Bristol Rovers, which forced them to settle for a fifth-placed finish, leaving them two points off Cambridge.
Chesterfield defied pre-season expectations to book tickets to Wembley, largely thanks to a superb run down the final stretch, beating Grimsby Town to sixth place by a single point.
That won’t bother the Mariners much, as they clinched the final play-off spot, breaking Barnet’s hearts. Despite winning seven of their last eight league outings, the Bees finished the season as the best of the rest.
Relegation
Barnet’s 2-1 victory at Wetherby Road on the final day condemned Harrogate Town to relegation, leaving Simon Weaver’s side a mere point adrift of safety.
On the other hand, Barrow’s fate was sealed before Saturday’s kick-off, and a 2-1 home loss to Newport County only added insult to injury.
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