Stockport County Win League Two Promotion Play Off Final At Wembley

Stockport County have won the league two play off final at the new Wembley stadium and promotion to league one after a 3-2 win over Rochdale.

Rory McArdle actually gave Rochdale the lead in the first half before Stockport equalised with a Nathan Stanton own goal to leave the match all square at half time then Anthony Pilkington and Liam Dickinson netted in the second half to seal the win despite a late strike by Rochdale winger Adam Rundle.

This game was the last of the English football promotion play off finals and it was probably the best match out of the three with no shortage of goals, incident and excitement.

The great thing about these games is that they are now once again being played at the national stadium no disrespect to Cardiff's millennium stadium but you simply cannot beat Wembley whether it is the old or the new version.

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Doncaster Rovers Win League One Play Off Final

Doncaster Rovers have won the League One play off final at Wembley beating Yorkshire rivals Leeds United 1-0 with a goal from James Hayter.

After narrowly missing out on automatic promotion on the final day of the season the win gives Donny promotion to the Championship and a return to the 2nd tier of English football after an absence of 50 years.

Their chairman John Ryan deserves a lot of credit as the club could not have been in a worse state than it was when he took over 10 years ago and to take the club from non league to where it is now is some achievement.

Leeds United now face at least another season in League One and you get the feeling that losing manager Dennis Wise when they did was crucial and ultimately put paid to automatic promotion although new boss Gary McAllister will be aiming to win the division outright next season.

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Hull City Win Championship Play Off Final

Hull City have deservedly won the championship play off final at the new Wembley stadium with a narrow 1-0 win over Bristol City to gain premiership status and an estimated £50 million pound windfall.

Veteran striker Dean Windass who seems to go on and on scored the only goal of a tense game which was an excellent finish itself worthy of winning a place in the premiership.

Hull City boss Phil Brown is developing an impressive reputation as one of the games better up and coming managers after staving off relegation last season he has masterminded an impressive season which saw the tigers only just miss out on an automatic promotion spot.

It all means that Hull will now be playing premiership football next season for the first time in their history and their fans can look forward to visiting grounds such as Old Trafford, Anfield, Stamford Bridge and The Emirates.

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Man Utd Win Champions League Final Via Penalty Shootout

Manchester United have conquered Europe for the 3rd time in their history by beating Chelsea 6-5 in a nail biting penalty shootout although at one stage Chelsea were on the verge of winning with the penalties poised at 4-4 skipper John Terry stepped up to take his teams fifth and final penalty and a successful conversion would have seen him lifting the trophy himself but he slipped as he was about to make contact with the ball which undoubtedly had an effect on the kick which hit the post.

During the match itself United had the better of the 1st half and Christiano Ronaldo scored his 42nd goal of a great season with a nice header and just before the break Frank Lampard put away his 20th goal of the season to leave the best two teams in England neck and neck.

In the 2nd half Chelsea seemed to get stronger the more the game went on with Didier Drogba hitting the post and Lampard hitting the bar and as the match went into extra time with players from both sides suffering from the effects of cramp a penalty shootout seemed more and more inevitable.

Nicolas Anelka was the unlucky player who had his and Chelsea's 7th spot kick saved by United keeper Edwin van der Sar to send the red and white contingent in the stadium delirious.

It was a little tough on Chelsea who will quite rightly think overall they had the better of the match and in particular John Terry who looked distraught after his penalty miss.

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Portsmouth Win The FA Cup

This years FA Cup has been strange with so many premiership clubs falling by the wayside even at a relatively early stage although many football fans will not have been too sympathetic at seeing the bigger clubs get knocked out as there is a feeling that some managers have been a little guilty of not taking the Worlds greatest cup competition as seriously these days by fielding under strength or weakened teams.

It is still hard to believe though that so many premiership clubs missed out on a golden opportunity to not only win a major trophy but also the experience of competing in front of a crowd of 80,000 people at the new Wembley stadium.

The match itself was always going to be tight with Cardiff City providing stubborn opposition and it was a scrappy goal scored by Kanu in the first half that proved to be the winner and settled the game 1-0.

Harry Redknapp has been around for some years and he is deserving of this major trophy and the subsequent European adventure that comes with it in the UEFA cup next season.

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Championship Play Off Final A Tale Of Two Cities

The championship play off final at the new Wembley stadium will be Bristol City versus Hull City after both clubs came through their respective 2nd leg matches.

Both Crystal Palace and Watford had their moments in the 2nd leg but in the end Bristol and Hull won convincingly and can quite rightly claim to be the better team on the strength of the two matches.

Since promotion play offs were introduced we have quite often seen the clubs that have narrowly missed out on automatic promotion flatter to deceive while the team that just sneaks into the play off places at a late stage tends to go on and do well.

That has not been the case this season and this years championship play off final will be contested by the 3rd and 4th best teams in the division who seem to be particularly well matched and are led by two astute managers in Gary Johnson and Phil Brown.

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Man Utd Win Premiership As Reading And Birmingham Relegated

Manchester United clinched their 10th premiership title in 16 seasons with a win at Wigan Athletic on the final day of the season finishing a clear 2 points ahead of nearest rivals Chelsea who only managed a draw with Bolton at home although in fairness the news from the JJB stadium filtered through to just about everyone inside Stamford Bridge anyway and the miracle that the blues needed never looked like materialising.

It will be interesting to see how Chelsea react to missing out on the premier league crown when they meet United in the champions league final as they will need to get over this disappointment and pick themselves up.

At the other end of the table Reading despite a 4-0 win at Derby were still relegated and after a great season last year which surprised many observers this term has been much the opposite and the loss of Steve Sidwell was probably a factor.

Joining Reading and already relegated Derby was Birmingham City who like Reading conjured up an emphatic win against Blackburn Rovers to no avail the brum fans apparently gave the board some stick which led to David Gold and David Sullivan hinting that they may now quit the club.

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Advantage Bristol And Hull City In Championship Play Offs

After the 1st leg matches of this years championship play offs both Bristol City and Hull City will feel they have a definite advantage having pulled off impressive results away from home.

Veteran Hull City players Dean Windass and Nick Barmby scored to edge the Tigers closer to the play off final and Watford who have been struggling of late and only just made the play offs will require a massive effort to overturn the 2-0 deficit in the return match at the KC Stadium.

Bristol City meanwhile snatched an injury time winner against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park and duly celebrated on the pitch at the final whistle which did not go down too well with Palace boss Neil Warnock who claimed the celebrations were over the top.

There have been plenty of occasions in recent years when teams have won the 1st leg away from home then lost the 2nd leg on their own patch so it is not a forgone conclusion that Bristol City and Hull City will be meeting in the play off final and certainly Eagles boss Neil Warnock and his team will be fired up and looking for a result at Ashton Gate in the return leg in what promises to be an explosive encounter and if I was a betting man I would not write Palace off just yet.

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Championship Winners And Losers

The championship season came to a thrilling climax yesterday with the outstanding promotion and relegation issues resolved with Tony Mowbray's West Brom winning the title and Stoke City managed by Tony Pulis finishing as runners up.

Any club that wins promotion to the premiership these days knows that they will have their work cut out just surviving but it can be done if funds are spent well.

Bristol City, Hull City, Crystal Palace and Watford are the teams that will battle it out for the championship play offs and the final promotion place with Palace fancied by some to go all the way with Neil Warnock having a great record at various levels with the play offs.

Relegated to League one along with Colchester United and Scunthorpe United were Ian Holloway's Leicester City whose final tally of 52 points saw them relegated by just the one point at the Victoria Stadium while Stoke City and their fans celebrated promotion to the premier league.

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A Chelsea v Manchester United Champions League Final

Chelsea booked their place in the European Champions league final with a 3-2 victory after extra time over Liverpool at Stamford Bridge last night going through 4-3 on aggregate.

It was the stereotypical game of two halves as after completely dominating the 1st half Chelsea looked strangely out of sorts in the 2nd and did not really get going again until extra time got underway.

Rafa Benitez and his pre match attack on Didier Drogba only seemed to fire up the striker as he netted twice in addition to Frank Lampard converting from the penalty spot.

For Liverpool Fernando Torres scored once more before being substituted and great things are expected of him after an impressive first season in English football while Ryan Babel scored a late consolation.

Over the two legs the Chelsea versus Liverpool semi final provided much more entertainment compared to the other semi between Manchester United and Barcelona but perhaps that should be no surprise considering they are both English Premiership teams.

As the final whistle blew to signal the end of extra time and the match the Chelsea players danced their way around Stamford Bridge while their manager Avram Grant showed a rare glimpse of emotion after having led the club to the Champions League Final an achievement that his predecessor could not quite manage during his tenure at the club.

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