2022 EFL League One play-off Final

2022 EFL League One
play-off final

Sunderland Wycombe Wanderers 2 0
Report
Date	21 May 2022
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Referee	Simon Hooper
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The 2022 EFL League One play-off Final was an association football match that was played between Sunderland and Wycombe Wanderers on 21 May 2022 at Wembley Stadium, London, to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from EFL League One, the third tier of English football, to the EFL Championship. The top two teams of the 2021–22 EFL League One gained automatic promotion to the Championship, while the clubs placed from third to sixth in the table took part in 2022 English Football League play-offs.

Route to the final

Main article:2022 English Football League play-offs#League One

EFL League One final table, leading positionsBBC

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Wigan Athletic (C, P)	46	27	11	8	82	44	+38	92
2	Rotherham United (P)	46	27	9	10	70	33	+37	90
3	Milton Keynes Dons	46	26	11	9	78	44	+34	89
4	Sheffield Wednesday	46	24	13	9	78	50	+28	85
5	Sunderland	46	24	12	10	79	53	+26	84
6	Wycombe Wanderers	46	23	14	9	75	51	+24	83

(C) Champion; (P) Promoted

Sunderland finished the regular 2021–22 season in fifth place in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system, one place and one point ahead of Wycombe Wanderers. Both, therefore, missed out on the two automatic places for promotion to the EFL Championship and instead took part in the play-offs to determine the third promoted team. Sunderland finished six points behind Rotherham United (who were promoted in second place) and eight behind league winners Wigan Athletic.

Sunderland's opposition for their play-off semi-final was Sheffield Wednesday, with the first match of the two-legged tie taking place at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland on 6 May 2022. The game remained goalless until injury time in the first half when Ross Stewart took the ball from Sam Hutchinson before scoring from a tight angle, his 25th goal of the season. Seven minutes into the second half, Alex Pritchard struck the ball against the Sheffield Wednesday crossbar and despite pressure from the away side in the final 20 minutes, the game ended 1–0. The 44,742 spectators set the record for the highest attendance at any semi-final play-off in the history of the post-season games. The second leg took place three days later at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. The first half ended goalless before Sheffield Wednesday took the lead and levelled the tie in the 74th minute: Barry Bannan passed to Marvin Johnson whose cross was struck into the Sunderland goal from close range by Lee Gregory. Sheffield Wednesday began to dominate the match but three minutes into second-half injury time, Jack Clarke passed to Patrick Roberts who scored from close range. The match ended 1–1 and Sunderland progressed to the final with a 2–1 aggregate victory. Their win meant they went to the final having been undefeated in their previous 15 games.

In the second play-off semi-final, Wycombe Wanderers faced Milton Keynes Dons and the first leg was played at Adams Park in High Wycombe on 5 May 2022. Seven minutes before half-time, Wycombe Wanderers took the lead when Ryan Tafazolli scored from close range with a header from a Joe Jacobson corner. Sam Vokes then put the ball into Milton Keynes Dons' goal but it was disallowed, and the half ended 1–0. Midway through the second half, Josh McEachran was sent off after being shown two yellow cards within seven minutes, reducing the visiting side to ten players. Jason McCarthy's shot then hit the Milton Keynes Dons' crossbar before Vokes doubled Wycombe Wanderers' lead in the 82nd minute with a header from a Garath McCleary cross, and the match ended 2–0. The second leg took place three days later at Stadium MK in Milton Keynes. Troy Parrott gave the home side the lead in the 26th minute with a header from Hiram Boateng's cross. Although Milton Keynes Dons dominated the match throughout, they were unable to score a second goal and the match ended 1–0, with Wycombe advancing to the final with a 2–1 win on aggregate.

Match

Background

This will be Sunderland's fourth play-off final, having lost all three of their previous finals. In the 1998 Football League First Division play-off Final, they faced Charlton Athletic at the old Wembley Stadium in a match described by Rob Stevens of the BBC as "arguably the best play-off final in English Football League history". That final ended 3–3 in regular time, 4–4 after extra time, and Sunderland lost the resulting penalty shoot-out 7–6. Sunderland's last play-off final ended in a 2–1 defeat to Charlton Athletic in 2019. Sunderland had also played in the 1990 Football League Second Division play-off Final against Swindon Town which they lost 1–0. They were promoted however, as Swindon were later found guilty of financial misconduct. Sunderland last played in the Championship in the 2017–18 season, when they were relegated to League One after finishing bottom of the league. Their most recent visit to Wembley Stadium came in the previous season, when they won the EFL Trophy, marking their first victory at the national stadium since 1973.

Wycombe Wanderers will also be making their fourth play-off final appearance. They won the 1994 Football League Third Division play-off Final 4–2 against Preston North End before losing to Southend United in the 2015 Football League Two play-off Final in a penalty shoot-out. Their most recent play-off final came in 2020, where they defeated Oxford United 2–1 in the EFL League One play-off Final to secure promotion to the EFL Championship. They were relegated the following season back to League One.

In the matches between the sides during the regular season, Sunderland won 3–1 at the Stadium of Light in August 2021 and the fixture at Adams Park the following January ended in a 3–3 draw. Stewart was Sunderland's top scorer with 24 goals during the regular season, while Vokes was the leading marksman for Wycombe Wanderers on 17 goals.

The final will be refereed by Simon Hooper, with Adam Crysell and Craig Taylor as his assistants. Tim Robinson will be the fourth official and Lee Mason will be the video assistant referee (VAR) as in May 2022, the EFL had announced that for the first time, the VAR system would be used at all play-off finals. Sunderland received an initial allocation of 37,480 tickets for the final which was subsequently increased to 43,960 due to high demand. Wycombe Wanderers were initially given 19,205 tickets and applied for an extra allocation.

Details

21 May 2022 15:00 BST	Sunderland	2–0	Wycombe Wanderers	Wembley Stadium Attendance: 72,332 Referee: Simon Hooper
	Embleton  12' Stewart  79'	Report

Sunderland

Wycombe Wanderers

GK 20 Anthony Patterson RB 11 Lynden Gooch CB 26 Bailey Wright CB 5 Danny Batth LB 17 Dennis Cirkin 46' CM 4 Corry Evans (c) CB 13 Luke O'Nien RW 77 Patrick Roberts AM 21 Alex Pritchard 75' 81' LW 8 Elliot Embleton 61' CF 14 Ross Stewart 88' Substitutes: MF 25 Jack Clarke 61' DF 6 Callum Doyle 81' FW 9 Nathan Broadhead 88' Head Coach: Alex Neil

GK 13 David Stockdale RB 26 Jason McCarthy CB 5 Anthony Stewart CB 6 Ryan Tafazolli LB 3 Joe Jacobson (c) CM 28 Josh Scowen CM 17 Daryl Horgan 55' RW 12 Garath McCleary AM 4 Dominic Gape 75' LW 23 Jordan Obita 65' CF 9 Sam Vokes Substitutes: MF 11 Lewis Wing 55' FW 18 Brandon Hanlan 65' FW 20 Adebayo Akinfenwa 75' Head Coach: Gareth Ainsworth

Statistics

	Sunderland	Wycombe Wanderers
Possession	50%	50%
Goals scored	2	0
Shots on target	4	2
Shots off target	5	1
Fouls committed	9	8
Corner kicks	4	0
Yellow cards	2	0
Red cards	0	0

External links

• BBC Sport