Shrewsbury Town 1-0 Charlton Athletic (Agg 2-0)
- Published
Shrewsbury will play Rotherham or Scunthorpe in the League One play-off final at Wembley on 27 May
Shrewsbury defeated Charlton 1-0 for the second time in 72 hours to reach the League One play-off final.
Town will face either Scunthorpe or Rotherham at Wembley on 27 May.
Carlton Morris scored the decisive goal an hour into the second leg of the semi-final, firing in left-footed from Shaun Whalley's cut-back.
Charlton felt they should have had a penalty in a first half they shaded, but appeals for handball against home captain Mat Sadler were waved away.
Goalscorer Morris was also possibly fortunate to escape unpunished after an early tangle with Patrick Bauer, in which appeared to catch the Charlton defender with his elbow.
Lee Bowyer's Addicks, who knew they needed to score in the second leg if they were to progress after losing 1-0 at The Valley on Thursday, had few efforts on goal to show for their greater attacking threat before the interval.
Shrewsbury, who ended the season third in League One, started the second period quicker and on-loan Norwich striker Morris made the breakthrough with his 10th goal of the season.
He scored the semi-final winner which took Shrewsbury to this season's Checkatrade Trophy final at Wembley, and his low finish ensured Town would appear in a third-tier play-off final for the first time in their history.
Relegation favourites to play-off winners?
Among the favourites for relegation at the start of the season, Paul Hurst's Shrewsbury are now just one victory away from returning to the second tier after a 29-year absence.
Their automatic promotion challenge may have faded in the closing weeks of the regular season, but securing a play-off spot was well beyond the Shropshire club's expectations at the beginning of the campaign.
And, after seeing off in-form Charlton over two legs, they now they can look forward to a second trip to Wembley in the space of seven weeks.
League Two side Lincoln beat them in the EFL Trophy final in April - avoiding a similar result against either Rotherham or Scunthorpe at the end of May would cap a truly unforgettable season.
Can Town end their Wembley hoodoo?
April's EFL Trophy final loss to Lincoln made it four defeats out of four at Wembley for Shrewsbury Town - the first of them in 1996 against a Rotherham side containing Paul Hurst, now the Shrewsbury manager:
14 April, 1996: Rotherham United 2-1 Shrewsbury (EFL Trophy final)
26 May, 2007: Bristol Rovers 3-1 Shrewsbury (League Two play-off final)
23 May, 2009: Gillingham 1-0 Shrewsbury (League Two play-off final)
8 April, 2018: Lincoln City 1-0 Shrewsbury (EFL Trophy final)
Match reaction
Shrewsbury manager Paul Hurst:
"Commiserations to Charlton. I have been in that position and it's not nice. They did very well to get there and they gave us two tough games.
"They might have a different view but I think we have the better players. We have now proved that by beating them three times out of four.
"Charlton had a really good spell in the middle of that first half, but then we got on top of them. We had a few harsh words at half time, which I felt was needed. But there is one more game to go. We haven't achieved promotion yet."
Charlton caretaker manager Lee Bowyer told BBC Radio London:
"We were the better side in the first half but, once we got to the final third, we just didn't take care of the ball and again we didn't take our chances.
"They looked a bit fresher and sharper than us in the second half, but we looked ok. They nicked the goal and then it was always going to be tough.
"We were the better team (over the two legs) but unfortunately the result doesn't show that."
- Published7 May 2018
- Published10 May 2018
