The League Two season comes to a close tomorrow afternoon when Crawley Town take on Crewe Alexandra in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium.
Crawley have been the surprise package of the season. Widely tipped to suffer relegation to the National League (mainly by us), they have more than surpassed expectations by reaching the play-offs.
Scott Lindsey has been full of belief in his group of players throughout the campaign. This was even more evident when they were pitted against favourites MK Dons in the semi-final, where they emerged from the two legs with a record-breaking 8-1 aggregate win.
Meanwhile, Crewe have been in the upper reaches of the table throughout, even briefly flirting with automatic promotion. In stark contrast to their opponents, they had a real fight in the previous round. Losing 2-0 at the Mornflake Stadium against the division’s most-inform side Doncaster Rovers, they travelled to the Eco-Power Stadium as underdogs.
The Railwaymen showed their quality in Yorkshire, producing a stunning comeback to force the game all the way to penalties. Lee Bell’s side emerged victorious, handing them the opportunity to return to League One at the second time of asking.
Both teams have plenty of reason to believe they have the momentum, making this a much-watch clash in the capital.
With that in mind, here’s how two of The Real EFL’s writing team see the game panning out…
Jamie Ward
“Crawley are arguably the favourites heading into this tie following their demolition of MK Dons in the semi-final. After a comfortable first leg, Mike Williamson’s side had no choice but to go for it in the return clash, which suited the Red Devils.
“They won’t have it that easy here, with Crewe having had the better of Crawley so many times over the years. They have won both previous clashes between the pair earlier this season and haven’t tasted defeat against the West Sussex side in the last seven meetings.
“Lee Bell, like Scott Lindsey, has done a phenomenal job this season. The Railwaymen have quietly gone about their business and won’t mind one bit being the underdogs.
“This will be a tight encounter, although I fancy Crewe to edge it.”
Crawley Town 0-1 Crewe Alexandra
Ivan Newsome
“After what can only be described as one of the best ever performances in the play-off semi-finals, Crawley are surely favourites here.
“Scott Lindsey has been magnificent this year and has got a team that are willing to run through a brick wall for him, which should stand them in good stead here.
“Lee Bell and Crewe also must be given plenty of credit for how they’ve handled themselves this season and it can go down as an impressive season even if they do miss out in cruel fashion.
“I just think after that performance against MK Dons, Crawley will be full of confidence and as long as they don’t get complacent, should win this.”
Crawley Town 3-1 Crewe Alexandra