Notts County 3-2 Boreham Wood: Magpies win extra-time thriller to reach promotion final
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Notts County's Aden Baldwin heads home Notts County's equaliser against Boreham Wood
A last-minute extra-time goal by substitute Jodi Jones sent Notts County into the National League promotion final, sealing an enthralling win against Boreham Wood after being two down.
Jones beat goalkeeper Joe McDonnell with an audacious effort from the edge of the area when the game was just seconds from a penalty shoot-out.
Aden Baldwin's headed equaliser in the sixth minute of injury time had sent the game to extra time, after he had pulled a goal back with a thumping 35-yard finish immediately after the break.
Baldwin's clinical finishes - the first goals of his senior career - rescued the Magpies' hopes of returning to the English Football League after a four-year absence.
Femi Ilesanmi had punished the wasteful hosts in the first half, sliding home the opener from close range before Lee Ndlovu pounced on a disastrous defensive error to make it 2-0 in first-half injury time.
Baldwin pulled a goal back after the interval but former Notts goalkeeper McDonnell - who joined the Wood as an emergency loan for the play-offs - saved Ruben Rodrigues' penalty in a thrilling game in front of a spirited crowd of 15,617.
Rodrigues' failure to level from the spot - a miss that added to a woeful day in front of goal for the playmaker - appeared to be the decisive moment, before Baldwin steered home his dramatic late header.
Jones then went on to win it sensationally in the 120th and final minute.
Fans spilled onto the pitch after full-time at Meadow Lane
The winner sparked joyous scenes with fans running on to the pitch as the Magpies reached their second play-off final in four years, having been beaten by Harrogate behind closed doors when the 2020 decider was played during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 161-year-old club now has another chance at the national stadium to be restored as the 'oldest football league club in the world', a mantle they lost when relegated from League Two in 2019.
Notts finished the regular season with 107 points but were edged out by Wrexham in the battle for automatic promotion.
Magpies boss Luke Williams had said that just looking at the table would be an overly "simple assessment" when trying to measure who would have the edge for the elimination game - even though the gap between second-placed Notts and Boreham Wood in sixth was larger than the distance between the Hertfordshire club and the relegation places.
Still, Boreham Wood's reputation for upstaging rivals in one-off games has defined them in recent seasons, with their run to the FA Cup fifth round in 2021-22 famously seeing them knock then Championship side Bournemouth out.
They lived up to their reputation on an incredible afternoon on the Black and White bank of the River Trent.
Dramatic equaliser, stunning winner
On a turbulent afternoon that finished with fans celebrating on the pitch, Rodrigues wasted two huge chances inside the first six minutes.
He then failed to beat McDonnell with Notts' best first-half chance, after wriggling free inside the box.
The visitors remained dangerous despite seeing little of the ball, and after goalkeeper Sam Slocombe was called on to tip a Jack Payne volley over the bar, Ilesanmi shocked the hosts when he broke the deadlock with a sliding finish from six yards.
Baldwin then fired dangerously wide, while the defender and Rodrigues forced saves from McDonnell as Notts searched for an equaliser.
A sloppy pass from the experienced John Bostock, however, gifted the Wood their second, as Ndlovu claimed the ball, ran at the defence and coolly slotted home beyond Slocombe.
A fierce Baldwin finish gave the Magpies the ideal start to the second half, but the defender almost handed the Wood a two-goal lead again moments later with a defensive mistake.
Crucially, he recovered to deflect a Ndlovu shot wide after the striker had rounded Slocombe.
When Rodrigues was bundled to the ground in the 64th minute, he had the chance to add his 19th goal of the season but failed to get the better of the excellent McDonnell with his penalty.
There was still time for Notts' Macaulay Langstaff to twice threaten to add to his record 42 National League goals for the season, but he bent both efforts off target, before the equaliser and winner came from an unlikely source.
While Baldwin had not scored before his two goals in normal time, Jones had not scored for Notts - until a goal that will be remembered by the Magpies faithful for generations.