2024 EFL League Two play-off final

The two finalists played each other twice during the regular season, with Crewe winning both of the matches: a 4–2 victory at Broadfield Stadium in October 2023, followed by a 2–0 scoreline in the Mornflake Stadium in February 2024.^[7] Elliott Nevitt was the highest scorer for Crewe with 16 league goals during the season while Orsi was Crawley's top marksman with 19 goals during the league campaign.^[8]

The match was Crawley Town's first appearance at Wembley in their 128-year history, and their first play-off final.^[9][10] Crewe had appeared in three play-offs finals previously, two at the old Wembley Stadium and one at the new stadium. They lost the 1993 Football League Third Division play-off final against York City in a penalty shootout, defeated Brentford 1–0 in the 1997 Football League Second Division play-off final and then prevailed in the 2012 Football League Two play-off final against Southend United.^[11][12] Crawley were allocated 19,556 tickets for the western end of Wembley Stadium and a maximum of 38,676 tickets, if required.^[13] Crewe Alexandra were allocated 38,693 tickets for the eastern end of the ground.^[14]

The referee for the match was Ben Toner. The assistant referees were Darren Williams and Paul Newhouse with Hugh Gilroy as a reserve, the fourth official was Lewis Smith. Michael Salisbury and Constantine Hatzidakis were named as the video assistant referee (VAR) and assistant video assistant referee respectively.^[15]

The match was televised live by Sky Sports on both its Football and Main Event channels and was also available for live streaming on Sky Go and NOW.^[16] BBC Local Radio stations covered the game for each team: BBC Radio Stoke for Crewe Alexandra and BBC Radio Sussex and BBC Radio Surrey for Crawley Town.^[17][18][19] Talksport 2 provided national radio commentary.^[16]

The match kicked off at 1:30 p.m. in front of a crowd 33,341, of whom more than 16,000 were Crawley supporters and just under 12,000 for Crewe.^[20][21][22] Crawley dominated possession in the early part of the match, but there were few chances for either side.^[23][24] Kelly had a shot from outside the area on 15 minutes which went high and wide, followed by a shot from inside the penalty area which was stopped by the Crewe goalkeeper, Stryjek.^[23][25] Crawley's Klaidi Lolos had a shot from outside the penalty area on 29 minutes, which was also saved.^[25] Crewe began to enjoy greater possession after this and had shots from Conor Thomas, which went wide, and a good chance from Nevitt, whose short from outside of the penalty area was saved by Crawley goalkeeper Corey Addai in the bottom corner of his goal.^[23][25] Crawley took the lead on 41 minutes when Orsi and Kelly played a one-two before Orsi scored, shooting with the outside of his foot.^[23] They had chances to extend this lead in the run up to half-time, Kelly having a right-footed shot inside the penalty area blocked and Laurence Maguire and Lolos then missing efforts. The half ended with Crawley ahead 1–0.^[25]

Crewe were awarded a penalty seven minutes into the second-half, when the referee deemed that Addai had fouled Chris Long who was through on goal after a defensive error. The VAR intervened, however, finding that the goalkeeper had made contact with the ball, and the decision was reversed.^[23] With half an hour remaining, there were two chances for Crawley – Kellan Gordon and Lolos both having shots saved – followed by a shot outside the penalty area from Crewe's Aaron Rowe, which was also blocked.^[25] Ten minutes later, Crawley's Darcy, who had come on as a substitute, sliced a shot wide of the goal.^[26] Kelly added a second goal for Crawley in the 85th minute when Dion Conroy's forward run and through ball was met by Kelly. His initial short-range cross towards Orsi was intercepted by Demetriou, but the ball rebounded into Kelly's path, enabling him to score.^[23] There were 11 minutes of stoppage time at the end of the match, during which Crewe had two attempts to pull a goal back, through Charlie Kirk and Ed Turns, while Orsi had a left-footed shot saved close to the end.^[25] No further goals were scored, however, and Crawley returned to the third tier of English football for the first time since 2015.^[23]

19 May 2024 (2024-05-19)

13:00 BST

Crawley Town	2–0	Crewe Alexandra
Orsi 41' L. Kelly 85'	Report

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 33,341

Referee: Ben Toner (Lancashire)

Crawley Town

Crewe Alexandra

GK 1 Corey Addai CB 30 Will Wright CB 3 Dion Conroy (c) CB 6 Laurence Maguire RM 2 Kellan Gordon  65' CM 26 Jay Williams CM 4 Liam Kelly 85' LM 19 Jeremy Kelly  90+3' RW 8 Klaidi Lolos  90+3' LW 28 Adam Campbell  55' CF 9 Danilo Orsi 41' Substitutes: MF 10 Ronan Darcy  55' FW 22 Ade Adeyemo  65' DF 25 Nick Tsaroulla  90+3' MF 11 Jack Roles  90+3' Head Coach: Scott Lindsey

GK 42 Max Stryjek RB 28 Lewis Billington  81' CB 12 Ed Turns CB 5 Mickey Demetriou (c) LB 3 Rio Adebisi  59' CM 8 Conor Thomas  65' CM 11 Joel Tabiner  66'  74' RW 10 Shilow Tracey  64' AM 21 Aaron Rowe  19' LW 7 Chris Long  74' CF 20 Elliott Nevitt Substitutes: FW 9 Courtney Baker-Richardson  64' MF 25 Josh Austerfield  65' MF 30 Charlie Kirk  74' MF 14 Lewis Leigh  74' MF 17 Matúš Holíček  81' Head Coach: Lee Bell

Writers in the local newspaper, the Sussex Express, described Crawley's win as a "miracle", citing their relegation battle the previous season, and a major restructuring of the team during the summer of 2023.^[27] Manager Scott Lindsey rejected this label, however, attributing the team's win to "hard work and belief". He said: "I understand life’s really short. Most people who were nearly relegated last season would probably think consolidation this year. But it’s not a word I have in my vocabulary."^[26] Lindsey's Crewe counterpart, Lee Bell, expressed pride in his squad, noting that the season had been a "real stretch" for them given the small number of players available, and also saying that he was "bitterly disappointed just for them as individuals". He congratulated Crawley on their win, saying that they were "worthy winners" and that Crewe had "struggled to get going and create anything".^[26]

Crawley Town held a celebration event at Broadfield Stadium on 20 May where supporters could meet players, get autographs and show their appreciation.^[21] Crawley's stay in League One was limited to one season, as they were relegated back to League Two at the end of the 2024–25 season.^[28] Crewe finished in 13th position in 2024–25, missing out on a play-off place.^[29]