Michael Pearlman
BBC Sport Wales at Wembley Stadium

If you're a superstitious sort, here is a little fact for you.

Brentford and Blackpool stayed in the same hotel before winning the Championship and League One play-offs in the past two days.

If that hotel is to continue its run of winners, that will be good news for Newport County, as they stayed there last night.

Michael Pearlman
BBC Sport Wales at Wembley Stadium

A Newport fan walks into a bar at Wembley.

"The usual," they are asked.

Because for Newport County, Wembley has become a home from home.

The Exiles, or the Ironsiders for that matter (ask your parents), had never played at Wembley before 2012 and now they are here for the fifth time in nine years!

The Exiles have won one and lost three of their previous visits here, most recently in the 2019 play-off final when they lost 1-0 to Tranmere Rovers.

Play-off finals are great fun if your team wins, or indeed if you are a neutral and can watch on with a box of popcorn as two sides slug it out for the right to go up.

It is what is at stake in these games which means they are usually worth watching.

For those involved, the final whistle - or the last kick of a penalty shootout - means either euphoria or despair.

We have already seen one Welsh club endure the pain of defeat this weekend, with Swansea City well beaten by Brentford in Saturday's fight for a place in the top flight.

Yesterday it was Lincoln who left with broken hearts after defeat by Blackpool in the League One final.

Can Morecambe emulate their fellow Lancastrians, or will Newport raise the Welsh flag at Wembley?

Image source, Getty Images

Michael Pearlman
BBC Sport Wales at Wembley Stadium

It would appear nine years of service isn't worth much in regards to the reception Kevin Ellison just got.

Arguably no Newport player got a bigger cheer, but Ellison's name being read out was greeted by a cacophony of boos and jeers from the Morecambe end.

Jay Freeman
BBC Sport

Both of these sides were battling to retain their English Football League status not so long ago.

Mike Flynn led Newport's great escape in 2016-17 as they narrowly stayed up in League Two while Jim Bentley kept Morecambe from the drop on the final day of the following season.

Fast forward to today and these are two teams in an awful lot better shape than just three or four years ago and a historic promotion is on the cards today.

Question is, who can hold their nerve? And will the warm weather at Wembley impact these two teams today?

Image source, Getty Images

Morecambe boss Derek Adams has two promotions at Ross County on his CV, while he led Plymouth Argyle into the third tier courtesy of a second-placed finish in League Two in 2016-17.

Having tasted play-off final defeat with Argyle in 2016, the 45-year-old Scot is hoping for a happier day at Wembley this time around.

Should Morecambe emerge triumphant, it will be quite an achievement for Adams, who says he has the smallest budget of any manager in the EFL.

It is worth remembering, too, that the Shrimps were in the League Two relegation places when he took charge at the club in November 2019.

Mike Jackson
Former Tranmere manager on BBC Radio Lancashire

You've not only got the occasion but with this heat, you sometimes can't play your normal game intensity.

Some players thrive in it but some can struggle in the heat. When you get to these occasions, it's just about lasting in those final 10 minutes when you've nothing left in the tank and just pushing through.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Mike Flynn is a local lad and a former Newport County player.

He began his reign as Exiles manager by saving the club from a return to non-league football when they had looked doomed.

Flynn knows all about the climb from the depths of the Hellenic League after the original Newport club went bust during the 1988-89 campaign.

He knows what a win today would mean.

"If I was the one to be able to get them to League One, there wouldn't be a prouder man in Newport than me," he says.

Read more from Flynn here.

Michael Pearlman
BBC Sport Wales at Wembley Stadium

It certainly won't be the whole of Wales supporting Newport County today, because for one Morecambe player, goalkeeper Kyle Letheren.

A Wales under-21 international and former Wales squad member, Letheren is the son of former Leeds United goalkeeper Glan Letheren.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Inevitably, there has been plenty of focus on Kevin Ellison in the lead-up to this game thanks to his Morecambe connections and that celebration we mentioned at the Mazuma Stadium earlier in the season.

The 42-year-old became the oldest goalscorer in play-off history when he netted in that second-leg classic against Forest Green, and it was a key goal given that the tie was getting away from Newport at that stage.

Ellison says his focus today will be trying to inspire the Exiles once more, rather than making any point to his former employers.

"I am glad what happened early in the season at the Mazuma where I got my little bit of payback and my emotions out," Ellison says.

You can read more from one of the lower divisions' more colourful characters here.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Morecambe finished five points clear of Newport in the League Two table, yet it was Mike Flynn's side who had the upper hand when the two sides met.

Newport beat Morecambe 2-1 at Rodney Parade in December, when Matt Dolan scored the match-winning penalty after Stephen Hendrie had been sent off late on.

There was another Shrimps dismissal in the return fixture in March, with Sam Lavelle seeing red as the Exiles ran out 3-1 victors.

You might recall, the scorer of Newport's third goal that day was Kevin Ellison, who spent nine years at Morecambe before joining the Welsh club last September.

After finding the target, Ellison sprinted to the home dugout before celebrating loudly in Derek Adams' face.

Anyway, more of Ellison to come.

Jason Perry
Former Newport defender on BBC Radio Wales

Today will be pressure, but Mike Flynn will know he's got the right people to deal with it.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

It is a case of here we are again for Newport, who have become more familiar than most lower-league sides with the new Wembley.

They have been here for the FA Trophy final, the Blue Square Bet Premier - now National League - play-off final and an FA Cup replay against Tottenham Hotspur.

Their most recent visit was two seasons ago, when they were beaten by Tranmere in the League Two play-off final.

County hearts were broken that day thanks to a 119th-minute winner from Tranmere's Connor Jennings.

Mike Flynn's men must hope for a happier ending this afternoon having come through an epic semi-final against Forest Green to get here.

They appeared in control after a 2-0 first-leg victory, but needed extra time to progress after an extraordinary game ended 4-3 to Forest Green, making Newport 5-4 winners on aggregate.

Surely the drama of that second leg, when Nicky Maynard's late goal proved decisive, cannot be repeated today, can it?

Image source, Getty Images

Morecambe have given themselves a second chance of winning promotion to English football's third tier for the first time in their history, having narrowly missed out on a top-three spot on the final day of the regular season.

The Shrimps did their bit by beating Bradford, but victories for Cambridge and Bolton saw them join champions Cheltenham in League One.

Derek Adams' players shrugged off that disappointment to see off Tranmere in the play-off semi-finals, winning 2-1 at Prenton Park and then progressing thanks to a 1-1 draw in the return leg.

Now they must deliver at Wembley, where their only other play-off experience came back in 2007.

They beat Exeter City that day to reach the Football League for the first time. Now comes a chance to break new ground once more.

Morecambe boss Derek Adams has named the same starting XI that sealed a place at Wembley in the semi-final second leg against Tranmere Rovers.

Carlos Mendes Gomes and Cole Stockton will spearhead Morecambe's bid to reach League One having chalked up 15 goals apiece this season.

Morecambe: Letheren, Gibson, Knight-Percival, Lavelle (c), Cooney, Mendes Gomes, Diagouraga, Songo'o, Wildig, McAlinden, Stockton.

Subs: Halstead, Mellor, Davis, Kenyon, Lyons, O'Sullivan, Pringle.

Image source, BBC Sport