Tranmere Rovers 1-3 Forest Green Rovers
- Published
Forest Green lift the National League promotion final trophy, ending a 19-year stay in the division
Forest Green Rovers were promoted to the English Football League for the first time as they beat Tranmere Rovers in the National League promotion final.
After fine strikes from Kaiyne Woolery and Tranmere's Connor Jennings, Christian Doidge and Woolery goals put Forest Green 3-1 up at the break.
Cole Stockton went close for Tranmere three times in the second half.
But Forest Green held on at Wembley to reach League Two via the play-offs at the third attempt.
Their Gloucestershire home town of Nailsworth will be the smallest ever to host an EFL club next term, with a population of 5,794.
Defeat condemned battling Tranmere to a third straight season of non-league football, after their 94-year stay in the EFL ended with relegation in 2015.
A thrilling first half
Pacy winger Woolery's fierce, bouncing low strike put Forest Green ahead on 11 minutes, for the first of three well-struck goals in a compelling first half.
Jennings rifled in to level after a neat passing move from Micky Mellon's side, who were backed by a far superior number of travelling fans.
But shortly before half-time, Doidge drilled in for his 27th goal of the season after cutting inside, and Woolery latched onto a defensive error to slot in his second soon after, which stunned Tranmere after what had been an even first 40 minutes.
After the break, Stockton was denied by a brilliant low save from Sam Russell, and he then blazed over an empty goal after the keeper had made a hash of an attempted clearance.
Tranmere continued to press, but Stockton's glancing header dropped wide of the far post and Forest Green - with men behind the ball - stoutly withstood the pressure for rest of the game.
The EFL club with the smallest home town
Forest Green fans were outnumbered by their Tranmere counterparts, but still created a terrific atmosphere
Victory saw Forest Green go one better than they did at Wembley last term, having lost 3-1 to Grimsby in the 2016 promotion final.
For that game, Mark Cooper had only just arrived at the Gloucestershire side, after former boss Ady Pennock was sacked on the eve of last year's final, but the former Swindon and Notts County boss has achieved promotion in his first full season in charge.
In doing so, he achieved the main, long-held ambition of ambitious, eco-conscious owner Dale Vince, who had strenuously believed it was "inevitable" his side would eventually go up.
A 'vegan' club, with Scottish seaweed helping to fertilise their New Lawn pitch and no meat served on match days, they will be a unique addition to the EFL.
Backed by the owner of 'green' electricity company Ecotricity, Forest Green have hopes to one day compete as high as the Championship.
Having scored more goals than anyone else in the National League this season, they have avoided a 20th consecutive season in the fifth tier, after previously winning promotion to this level in 1998.
Tranmere, who were playing in League One as recently as 2014 and finished nine points above third-placed Forest Green in the regular season, will perhaps look back to their two league losses against champions Lincoln, which ultimately tipped the balance at the top as they finished just four points behind the Imps.
Kaiyne Woolery's second goal had Forest Green in charge by half-time
Tranmere boss Micky Mellon:
"Some of the goals we gave away, we're obviously very disappointed about. if you come to a place like this, you've got to do better in those moments.
"The third goal was the killer goal and it was another mistake. But on the day, I totally believe the better team won.
"Every credit to Forest Green. The things you have to do well at places like this, they did them.
"On the day, we made too many errors. I'll have a look at myself as well and look at the preparation."
Forest Green boss Mark Cooper:
"We were brilliant today. The young players were very mature and we looked a really good side today.
"Two goals up is always a funny score, because one goal changes everything. But we encouraged Tranmere to hit a lot of balls into the box, because our centre-halves are good at heading the ball out of the box, and they did it really comfortably.
"I want to enjoy tonight and savour that moment. The clock seemed to take ages to tick by. The players were magnificent."
- Published10 May 2017
