Dramatic Play-Off Finals Conclude EFL Season
Three dramatic play-off finals at Wembley Stadium brought the curtain down on the 2023/24 EFL season as Crawley Town, Oxford United and Southampton all secured promotion from their respective divisions.
The League Two final would be the first to be held under the famous arch, with Crawley going up against Crewe Alexandra for the right to play in League One next season.
Having narrowly avoided relegation from the EFL the previous season, Crawley had been tipped as one of the favourites for the drop but instead secured a play-off slot for the first time with a seventh place finish.
An 8-1 aggregate demolition of MK Dons earned a spot at Wembley, whilst Crewe overcame form side Doncaster Rovers on penalties in the other semi-final in a bid to return to League One after two seasons.
Danilo Orsi had grabbed a hat-trick in the second leg win against the Dons, and he opened the scoring for Crawley in the final with his 25th of the season shortly before the break.
After Crewe had a penalty kick overturned by VAR, Crawley confirmed that they would be going up when Liam Kelly rolled the ball into the net with five minutes to play to wrap up a 2-0 win.
The League One final would see Oxford United go up against Bolton Wanders, with Bolton fending off the stubborn challenge of Barnsley in the semi-finals, and Oxford seeing off Bristol Street Motors Trophy winners Peterborough United.
Bolton went into the game as favourites having been contenders for automatic promotion for a large part of the campaign, whilst Oxford were bidding to return to the second tier for the first time since being relegated from what was then Division One in 1999.
The 25-year absence would end after Josh Murphy scored a first half double to give Oxford victory – consigning Bolton to play-off heartache for the second season in succession.
That left the Championship play-off final to round out the domestic season, with Leeds United and Southampton both hoping to bounce straight back to the Premier League after a year away.
After both semi-finals were goalless following the first leg, Leeds earned a place at Wembley by thumping Norwich City 4-0 in the second leg, whilst Southampton grabbed a 3-1 win against West Bromwich Albion.
Leeds had finished three points ahead of Southampton in the standings and it would be a cagey affair between the two – which came as no surprise given what was at stake.
Adam Armstrong’s goal mid-way through the first half would prove to be decisive, allowing Southampton to score victory and take their place back in the top flight alongside Leicester City and Ipswich Town.