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| Southend United v Wycombe Wanderers: League Two play-off final – live! | Southend United v Wycombe Wanderers: League Two play-off final – live! |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 5.39pm BST17:39 | |
| 7 min: Now Worrall plays a good cross in of his own for Southend, swung in from the right, but Aaron Pierre gets it away. | |
| 5.38pm BST17:38 | |
| 6 min: Good from Wycombe here though as Hogan Ephraim, on the left flank, puts in two dangerous balls – the first one of which is cleared desperately as Hayes lingers. | |
| 5.37pm BST17:37 | |
| 5 min: How will Wycombe – and indeed this game – settle down now? That was an extraordinary, unfortunate start. | |
| 5.36pm BST17:36 | |
| 4 min: No, Saunders is going off. That’s such a cruel twist of fate. The ball was played back to him from kick-off and Atkinson, chasing in, just caught him from behind. It didn’t look an awful tackle but that’s it – Wycombe will be forced into an early change. We’ve had a three-minute stoppage here. And here, to replace Saunders, comes long-serving stalwart Matt Bloomfield. | |
| 5.34pm BST17:34 | |
| 1 min: An early problem for Saunders, who was caught within literally a second of kick-off by a rabidly eager Atkinson and is receiving treatment. He’s been very important to Wycombe, this isn’t good – he’s limping. | |
| 5.33pm BST17:33 | |
| Peep!!! Wycombe, shooting right to left, start us off | |
| Good luck, all. | |
| 5.28pm BST17:28 | |
| And here comes the national anthem. Ainsworth and Brown both belting it out tunefully. | |
| 5.26pm BST17:26 | |
| The teams will be introduced to a selection of suits, now. Shouldn’t be a minute or two. | |
| 5.25pm BST17:25 | |
| And here they are. Wycombe fans hold up dark and light blue cards and make a nice-looking display at one end; Southend supporters hold up scarves and flags to create a sea of yellow at the other. | |
| 5.24pm BST17:24 | |
| The teams are in the tunnel. Wycombe in their usual blue chequers, Southend in yellow. Looks like a decent crowd – considerably bigger than the 14,000 who watched Fleetwood beat Burton last year, for sure. Not long now.... | |
| Updated at 5.24pm BST | |
| 5.19pm BST17:19 | |
| In Wycombe’s team too is Nico Yennaris, also on loan from Brentford, who is a right-back or midfielder (latter today I think) and had a decent runout in the Premier League for Arsenal against Manchester United a few years back. Canny use of the loan market might just prove a critical factor in this game. | |
| Updated at 5.30pm BST | |
| 5.16pm BST17:16 | |
| It would be nice to hear your thoughts. Who will win? Which manager has the edge in the dugout and/or down the mic? Tell us. | |
| 5.12pm BST17:12 | |
| Dangermen today? Barry Corr scored 15 goals in the league for Southend; Paul Hayes, with 14, was Wycombe’s top marksman. They will be well supported by the likes of McLaughlin and another loanee – Brentford’s Sam Saunders, who has been superb for Wycombe. | |
| Updated at 5.12pm BST | |
| 5.07pm BST17:07 | |
| Goal action here from that 2-2 draw at Roots Hall in March: | |
| Updated at 5.08pm BST | |
| 5.04pm BST17:04 | 5.04pm BST17:04 |
| Wide man Stephen McLaughlin, the Nottingham Forest loanee, is the one change in the Southend team that you saw earlier by the way. He replaces Joe Pigott. McLaughlin came off the bench to score the vital second goal against Stevenage nine days ago. | |
| Wycombe are as you were – or as they were anyway – in the second leg against Plymouth. | Wycombe are as you were – or as they were anyway – in the second leg against Plymouth. |
| Updated at 5.08pm BST | |
| 4.59pm BST16:59 | 4.59pm BST16:59 |
| If past football results are your preferred harbingers for footballing success or failure, stat up on this: Wycombe beat Southend by a whacking 4-1 in December, albeit the Shrimpers were reduced to 10 men in the second half, and the teams drew 2-2 in Essex three months later. | If past football results are your preferred harbingers for footballing success or failure, stat up on this: Wycombe beat Southend by a whacking 4-1 in December, albeit the Shrimpers were reduced to 10 men in the second half, and the teams drew 2-2 in Essex three months later. |
| 4.52pm BST16:52 | 4.52pm BST16:52 |
| In the event that the two managers can still not be separated, Phil Brown wins – and consequently Southend are promoted – with this: | In the event that the two managers can still not be separated, Phil Brown wins – and consequently Southend are promoted – with this: |
| Updated at 4.56pm BST | Updated at 4.56pm BST |
| 4.50pm BST16:50 | 4.50pm BST16:50 |
| In the event that today’s play-off final is tied after 120 minutes, the winner will be decided via the medium of song. A panel will judge between these two videos: | In the event that today’s play-off final is tied after 120 minutes, the winner will be decided via the medium of song. A panel will judge between these two videos: |
| 4.35pm BST16:35 | 4.35pm BST16:35 |
| Southend line up like this | Southend line up like this |
| Team vs @wwfcofficial: Bentley, White (c), Bolger, Barrett, Coker, Worrall, Atkinson, Leonard, Timlin, McLaughlin, Corr. #BluesAtWembley | Team vs @wwfcofficial: Bentley, White (c), Bolger, Barrett, Coker, Worrall, Atkinson, Leonard, Timlin, McLaughlin, Corr. #BluesAtWembley |
| Subs vs @wwfcofficial: T. Smith (GK), Prosser, Weston, Payne, Deegan, Cassidy, Pigott. #BluesAtWembley | Subs vs @wwfcofficial: T. Smith (GK), Prosser, Weston, Payne, Deegan, Cassidy, Pigott. #BluesAtWembley |
| 4.33pm BST16:33 | 4.33pm BST16:33 |
| Wycombe line up like this | Wycombe line up like this |
| TEAM NEWS: Lynch, Yennaris, Jacobson, Mawson, Pierre, Saunders, Bean, Wood, Ephraim, Holloway, Hayes. #WYCvSOU | TEAM NEWS: Lynch, Yennaris, Jacobson, Mawson, Pierre, Saunders, Bean, Wood, Ephraim, Holloway, Hayes. #WYCvSOU |
| Subs: Horlock, Bloomfield, Craig, Murphy, McClure, Kretzschmar, Onyedinma. #WYCvSOU | Subs: Horlock, Bloomfield, Craig, Murphy, McClure, Kretzschmar, Onyedinma. #WYCvSOU |
| Updated at 4.33pm BST | Updated at 4.33pm BST |
| 4.28pm BST16:28 | 4.28pm BST16:28 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon |
| The play-offs are lovely, aren’t they? Lovely if you’re a neutral. If you’re not, they’re generally a sort of skewedly entertaining hell. I know this myself from just a week ago, but we’ll not go there. Instead let’s go to Wembley and the first of this season’s one-off, impossible-high-stakes shootouts. And this one, the face-off for a place in League One, looks too close to call. | The play-offs are lovely, aren’t they? Lovely if you’re a neutral. If you’re not, they’re generally a sort of skewedly entertaining hell. I know this myself from just a week ago, but we’ll not go there. Instead let’s go to Wembley and the first of this season’s one-off, impossible-high-stakes shootouts. And this one, the face-off for a place in League One, looks too close to call. |
| Meet Southend, who missed the chance to go up automatically when they dropped the ball against Morecambe on the final day of the league season but fully deserved the semi-final win over Stevenage that brought them here today. That wasn’t without its own bit of play-offishness though: deep into injury time, with the scores level, Michael Timlin crashed a penalty onto the bar at Roots Hall and it seemed as if the fates were conspiring against Phil Brown’s team. They had been the better side on the night though, and scored twice in extra time to erase any regrets. Now they have the chance to make sure their five-year stay in the bottom tier is extended no further. | Meet Southend, who missed the chance to go up automatically when they dropped the ball against Morecambe on the final day of the league season but fully deserved the semi-final win over Stevenage that brought them here today. That wasn’t without its own bit of play-offishness though: deep into injury time, with the scores level, Michael Timlin crashed a penalty onto the bar at Roots Hall and it seemed as if the fates were conspiring against Phil Brown’s team. They had been the better side on the night though, and scored twice in extra time to erase any regrets. Now they have the chance to make sure their five-year stay in the bottom tier is extended no further. |
| And now meet Wycombe, who only finished below fourth-placed Southend on goal difference and have done remarkably to get here after narrowly avoiding relegation from the Football League last season with a wonderful final-day escape. They beat Plymouth 5-3 on aggregate in their semi-final, looking impressive going forward in the process. Could they return to League One after three years away? You get the feeling that we’re in for a very, very close game. | And now meet Wycombe, who only finished below fourth-placed Southend on goal difference and have done remarkably to get here after narrowly avoiding relegation from the Football League last season with a wonderful final-day escape. They beat Plymouth 5-3 on aggregate in their semi-final, looking impressive going forward in the process. Could they return to League One after three years away? You get the feeling that we’re in for a very, very close game. |
| The last really dramatic League Two play-off final was in 2010, when Dagenham & Redbridge improbably beat Rotherham 3-2. The subsequent four have brought just seven goals and have all been won to nil. It’s very hard to see this one being a turn-off though: stay tuned. | The last really dramatic League Two play-off final was in 2010, when Dagenham & Redbridge improbably beat Rotherham 3-2. The subsequent four have brought just seven goals and have all been won to nil. It’s very hard to see this one being a turn-off though: stay tuned. |