Crawley promoted to League One after 2-0 win over Crewe at Wembley
Red Devils back in third tier for first time since 2015
Orsi fires Crawley ahead before break
Referee overturns decision to award Crewe penalty, ruling there was no contact from Crawley keeper Addai on Long
Kelly adds second for Crawley five minutes from time
Crawley 2-0 Crewe
Gary Smith
Crawley Town commentator for BBC Radio Sussex and BBC Radio Surrey
This squad of misfits, players taken from non-league that people raise their eyebrows about...
Scott Lindsey has got them playing football in a majestic way and it looks like it's going to bear fruit, at Wembley Stadium, of all places.
It's been a phenomenal season.
Crawley 2-0 Crewe
Crawley Town head for the corner and there's a bit of a contretemps between Crewe keeper Max Stryjek and Crawley striker Danilo Orsi.
About 60 seconds to go now.
Crawley 2-0 Crewe
Ed Turns goes for goal from miles out for Crewe but it's nowhere near.
Time running out for the Railwaymen..
Crawley 2-0 Crewe
Peter Morse
Crewe summariser on BBC Radio Stoke
One or two Alex fans heading for the exits...
Crawley 2-0 Crewe
Crawley skipper Dion Conroy is booked for delaying the restart.
I doubt he's too bothered.
Crawley 2-0 Crewe
It just isn't happening for Crewe.
Charlie Kirk is released down their left but massively overhits his cross into the middle.
Crawley make a double change.
Jeremy Kelly and Klaidi Lolos are off and Nick Tsaroulla and Jack Roles are on.
Crawley 2-0 Crewe
Gary Smith
Crawley Town commentator for BBC Radio Sussex and BBC Radio Surrey
Image source, PA MediaWho would have thought this when we sat there at Broadfield Stadium on the first day of the season when Crawley beat Bradford 1-0 with a Will Wright goal?
On the day when it mattered most, in the sunshine, under the arch, in NW10, Crawley have turned up, and look like they are going to be going up.
Crawley 2-0 Crewe
TEN minutes of time added on.
Enough time for Crewe to do something special?
#bbcefl, via WhatsApp on 03301231826 or text 81111 (UK only, standard message rates apply)
Riley Taylor: Surely 1st time at Wembley and FIRST win in play-offs finals! Surely, those play-offs blues are all wiped away for Crawley. They have been magnificent today!
Can't disagree with you there Riley.
Crawley 2-0 Crewe
Image source, Rex FeaturesLiam Kelly was part of the Rochdale team relegated out of the Football League.
One year on he has an assist and a goal and looks almost certain to be winning promotion to League One.
Crawley 2-0 Crewe
Tony Vessey
Former Crawley Town captain, on BBC Radio Sussex
It's an unbelievable ball from Dion Conroy which split the defence. It's fortunately ricocheted back to Liam Kelly off the defender with the keeper committed, but it's a very calm finish into the empty net.
The Crawley fans are chanting 'we are going up'... five minutes and stoppage time left... there's been some weird things in football down the years. I'm not going to call it yet.
Crawley 2-0 Crewe
Peter Morse
Crewe summariser on BBC Radio Stoke
If anyone deserved a goal, it was him.
Mickey Demetriou got the block he needed but it just swam perfectly to Liam Kelly.
It looks like heartbreak for the Alex.
Liam Kelly
Image source, Getty ImagesHad to be him!
The best player on the pitch surely, surely puts this game beyond Crewe.
Talented midfielder Liam Kelly scampers on to Dion Conroy's ball into the inside left channel.
The ex-Reading man looks to cut it back for Danilo Orsi but it's blocked.
No matter, it lands back at his feet and, with Crewe keeper Max Stryjek out of position to try and cut out the first ball, he just calmly slots it into the unguarded net from the angle.
Crawley 1-0 Crewe
Half a chance for Crewe!
Mickey Demetriou goes short with the throw and Crewe move the ball well over to the other side before crossing in to the back stick where Demetriou is arriving.
He gets his head on it but it's comfortable enough for Corey Addai in the Crawley goal.
Crawley 1-0 Crewe
Aaron Rowe cuts inside and has a go but Laurence Maguire gets his head on it to turn it away for a Crewe throw.
Mickey Demetriou lobs it and he'll get another chance to do that now.
Crawley 1-0 Crewe
Lewis Billington is off and Matus Holicek is on for Crewe.
Crawley 1-0 Crewe
Heading into the final 10 minutes, plus quite a bit of time added on at the end.
Crewe have time to get a goal here but... They don't have the ball and haven't seen much of it for some time.
Crawley 1-0 Crewe
Tony Vessey
Former Crawley Town captain, on BBC Radio Sussex
It's a lovely turn from Liam Kelly, the Crewe defender thought he was going to lay it off but he turned and he struck it well and it's a good save.
The Crawley crowd are up and chanting.
Crawley 1-0 Crewe
Peter Morse
Crewe summariser on BBC Radio Stoke
Liam Kelly is the best player on the pitch by a thousand miles. There's no debating there.
Crewe haven't been able to get a grip of him all afternoon.
Crawley 1-0 Crewe
Liam Kelly really is a cut above.
The Crawley midfielder turns beautifully 20 yards out and hammers a shot at goal that Max Stryjek turns over the bar.
Danilo Orsi and Liam Kelly scored the goals to send Crawley Town back up to League One for the first time since 2015
Crawley Town won promotion to League One with a deserved 2-0 victory against Crewe Alexandra at Wembley.
Goals from Danilo Orsi and the excellent Liam Kelly capped a dominant display for the Sussex side in the League Two play-off final.
Orsi followed up his semi-final hat-trick heroics with a cute finish with the outside of his foot to give the Reds a first-half lead.
Crewe thought they had a penalty after the break but saw the decision overturned following a VAR check, which is in use in all the EFL play-off finals, after Christopher Long went down under a challenge from goalkeeper Corey Addai.
But Kelly sealed a fine performance with a deserved goal to send his side back to the third tier of English football for the first time since 2015.
Crawley dominated possession from the start and looked the stronger of the two sides despite a quiet opening 20 minutes.
Kelly then carved out the first meaningful chance of the match, starting a fine passing move and receiving the ball from Orsi before sending a weak shot into the arms of Crewe goalkeeper Max Stryjek.
Crewe began to get a foothold in the game and almost took the lead as Elliott Nevitt won the ball in the Crawley half and sent a right-foot shot towards the bottom corner, with Crawley keeper Addai turning it round the post.
But Crawley’s semi-final hat-trick hero Orsi soon gave his side a deserved lead with the outside of his foot to finish a lovely move.
Four minutes before the break, midfielder Kelly - so often the architect for Crawley - played a neat one-two before feeding Orsi, who took the ball past the falling Ed Turns and finished neatly for his 25th goal of the season.
Crawley were buoyant and almost doubled their lead immediately with Jeremy Kelly’s effort deflected narrowly wide before Klaidi Lolos fired over the bar in added time as the Sussex side ended the half in total control.
Danilo Orsi followed up his semi-final second leg hat-trick with a goal at Wembley
A moment of controversy came early in the second as a mix-up between Adam Campbell and Addai put Long through one-on-one with the Crawley keeper.
Addai threw a leg out and Long went down under the challenge, with referee Ben Toner pointing to the spot and showing Addai a yellow card.
But the video assistant referee directed him to look at the screen, with replays showing a clear contact on the ball and Toner reversing the decision.
Crewe keeper Stryjek’s blushes were then spared as he hesitated under pressure from Orsi before a foul was given against the striker.
Crawley were applying pressure and it seemed a question of when, rather than if, they would double their lead, with substitute Ronan Darcy twice going close.
It was Kelly who capped a magnificent performance with his sixth goal of the season to effectively seal victory with five minutes of normal time left.
One again searching for Orsi in the middle, his left-foot cross was cut out by the sliding Crewe captain Mickey Demetriou, the ball coming back to Kelly with Stryjek pulled out of position and free to place the ball into an empty net in front of the jubilant Crawley fans.
While 10 minutes of added time gave Crewe some hope, Crawley almost embellished their winning margin at the death as Orsi forced a save from Stryjek.
Referee: Ben Toner
Attendance: 33,341
| Position | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Difference | Points | Form, Last 6 games, Oldest first |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 46 | 27 | 11 | 8 | 96 | 48 | 48 | 92 |
| |
| 2 | 46 | 26 | 10 | 10 | 89 | 52 | 37 | 88 |
| |
| 3 | 46 | 24 | 14 | 8 | 90 | 47 | 43 | 86 |
| |
| 4 | 46 | 23 | 9 | 14 | 83 | 68 | 15 | 78 |
| |
| 5 | 46 | 21 | 8 | 17 | 73 | 68 | 5 | 71 |
| |
| 6 | 46 | 19 | 14 | 13 | 69 | 65 | 4 | 71 |
| |
| 7 | 46 | 21 | 7 | 18 | 73 | 67 | 6 | 70 |
| |
| 8 | 46 | 18 | 15 | 13 | 62 | 56 | 6 | 69 |
| |
| 9 | 46 | 19 | 12 | 15 | 61 | 59 | 2 | 69 |
| |
| 10 | 46 | 17 | 14 | 15 | 64 | 51 | 13 | 65 |
| |
| 11 | 46 | 18 | 11 | 17 | 69 | 73 | -4 | 65 |
| |
| 12 | 46 | 18 | 10 | 18 | 46 | 57 | -11 | 64 |
| |
| 13 | 46 | 17 | 12 | 17 | 60 | 69 | -9 | 63 |
| |
| 14 | 46 | 18 | 7 | 21 | 89 | 86 | 3 | 61 |
| |
| 15 | 46 | 17 | 10 | 19 | 67 | 81 | -14 | 58 |
| |
| 16 | 46 | 17 | 6 | 23 | 67 | 70 | -3 | 57 |
| |
| 17 | 46 | 16 | 9 | 21 | 63 | 71 | -8 | 57 |
| |
| 18 | 46 | 16 | 7 | 23 | 62 | 76 | -14 | 55 |
| |
| 19 | 46 | 14 | 12 | 20 | 77 | 83 | -6 | 54 |
| |
| 20 | 46 | 13 | 12 | 21 | 66 | 82 | -16 | 51 |
| |
| 21 | 46 | 11 | 16 | 19 | 57 | 74 | -17 | 49 |
| |
| 22 | 46 | 11 | 12 | 23 | 59 | 80 | -21 | 45 |
| |
| 23 | 46 | 9 | 15 | 22 | 59 | 84 | -25 | 42 |
| |
| 24 | 46 | 11 | 9 | 26 | 44 | 78 | -34 | 42 |
|
Manager: Scott Lindsey
Formation: 3 - 4 - 2 - 1
Manager: Lee Bell
Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1
Manager: Scott Lindsey
Formation: 3 - 4 - 2 - 1
Manager: Lee Bell
Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1
League Two
All competitions
All competitions
All competitions
Crewe Alexandra are unbeaten in each of their last seven games against Crawley Town (W6 D1), all of which have come in League Two. Indeed, the Railwaymen won both meetings this term (1-0 at home, 4-2 away).
Having lost both league meetings with Crewe this season, Crawley could become just the fourth side in the fourth tier this century to lose both league games but get promoted in the play-off final against the same side after Cheltenham Town in 2006, Dagenham and Redbridge in 2010 and Morecombe in 2021.
Crawley are looking to become the first side since Coventry City in 2018 to earn promotion in their first ever time in the Football League play-offs, while Crewe have won each of their last two appearances in the play-off finals in 1997 in the third tier and 2012 in League Two.
Crawley’s eight goals across their play-off semi-final against MK Dons is the most by a side in their first two games in the Football League play-offs. Indeed, the only sides with more goals during their first ever year in the play-offs are Walsall in 1988 (11) and Dagenham and Redbridge in 2010 (10).
This is the first time since 2019 that the sides finishing sixth (Crewe) and seventh (Crawley) will meet in the final of the League Two play-offs. The last time a side finished seventh and earned promotion was Northampton in 2020.
This will be Crawley’s first ever appearance at Wembley, while Crewe will be making their fifth appearance there, winning on each of their last three trips (D1).
Since a 2-0 home league defeat to Doncaster in March, Crawley have scored in each of their last nine games (24 goals), while they last netted in 10 successive matches in all competitions in March 2021.
Crewe enter the League Two play-off final having won just two of their last 11 games (D4 L5), while their 2-0 second-leg win over Doncaster was the first time they’d scored more than once in a game since a 3-2 defeat to Morecambe at the beginning of March.
Two of Jay Williams’ three goals for Crawley in all competitions this season came across both legs of the semi-finals against MK Dons. Indeed, the last player to score in both legs and the final in a single year in the EFL play-offs was James Wilson for Port Vale in 2022.
In the top four tiers this season (inc. play-offs), only Luke Leahy (10) has more goals among defenders than Crewe’s Mickey Demetriou (9), while he has more Football League goals against Crawley (4) than any other side.
