Source: TheGuardian
Rotherham v Shrewsbury: League One play-off final – live!
Updates on the race to reach the Championship, kick-off 3pm UK time‘It’s groundbreaking, pioneering’: Shrewsbury bring in safe standingAny comments? You email John or tweet @johnbrewin_ 2.56pm BST Paul Hurst, Shrews manager, played his entire career for Rotherham, and spent five years with United manager, Paul Warne, as his team-mate. The two Pauls shared a manly embrace in the tunnel earlier this afternoon. Their respective teams are currently on the Wembley turf meeting the EFL suits. 2.48pm BST Like Saturday’s match, it is very hot at Wembley and that made for heavy fatigue and some tetchy behaviour. 2.36pm BST Last time Rotherham were in the play-off final, they beat Leyton Orient on penalties in the 2014 final. This was how manager Steve Evans celebrated. Right, that's enough serious info for a bit.Thank you for listening.As a show of appreciation, here's Steve Evans almost losing his trousers celebrating a goal! pic.twitter.com/Dkr2G7Gff2 2.34pm BST Shrewsbury have recent memories of Wembley which may not be too sweet. Their loss to League Two Lincoln was a big shock. Related: Lincoln City lift Checkatrade Trophy after narrow win over Shrewsbury 2.33pm BST The bookmakers’ odds suggest Rotherham are quite warm favourites, and that may be a result of the two teams’ late-season form. Shrewsbury spent 200 days in an automatic promotion spot, having been expected to struggle against relegation in pre-season. 2.20pm BST It is estimated that Rotherham will bring 14,000 fans down to Wembley, while 11,000 Salopians make their way east. That means Wembley might be quite empty, begging the question of why the national stadium has to host this game (beyond money), though the flipside of that is that fans all want to see their team play at the hallowed ground (or the redux that opened in 2007). 2.15pm BST Let’s look back at yesterday’s match while also looking forward to next season. Related: Fulham’s scintillating football set to invigorate tired Premier League | Ben Fisher 2.07pm BST TEAM NEWS: The two managers have named their teams for this afternoon’s @SkyBetLeagueOne Play-Off Final. @OfficialRUFC v @shrewsweb - happy with those line-ups? #EFLPlayOffs pic.twitter.com/zvJafzWLy0 1.27pm BST Saturday’s Championship play-off got the EFL’s showpiece weekend off to a cracking start. There might have been just one goal in it between Fulham and Villa, but that game had just about everything else, including an incredibly laissez-faire refereeing performance from Anthony Taylor. Jack Grealish will have a sore leg, riven with studs from Ryan Fredericks, as well as banging head. Now, who gets to join reluctant, pained Villa in the second tier of English football? Eight points, though only a single place, separated Shrewsbury and Rotherham in the regular season. The Shrews’ hopes of automatic promotion collapsed in the latter weeks as Blackburn and Wigan surged clear. Promotion would be a step into territory lost in the mists of time. The club has not been in the old Second Division since 1988-89, and even played a season of Conference football in 2003-04. Rotherham are bidding to return to the division where they collected just 23 points last season. Paul Warne has done a fine salvage job at the New York Stadium, just as Paul Hurst, linked with a move to Ipswich come what may, has done at the New Meadow. As always with these fixtures, what follows the final whistle (perhaps after ET +P) will be a clear divide between triumph and desolation. And that’s why we watch these games. Continue reading......read full article