2013 Football League One play-off Final

Brentford finished the regular 2013–14 season in third place in Football League One, the third tier of the English football league system, one place ahead of Yeovil Town. Both therefore missed out on the two automatic places for promotion to the Football League Championship and instead took part in the play-offs to determine the third promoted team. Brentford finished four points behind Bournemouth (who were promoted in second place) and five behind league winners Doncaster Rovers. Yeovil Town ended the season two points behind Brentford.[2][3]

Yeovil Town's opponents for their play-off semi-final were Sheffield United and the first match of the two-legged tie was played on 3 May 2013 at Bramall Lane in Sheffield. The first half ended goalless with the best chance falling to Barry Robson whose free kick went just wide of the Yeovil goalpost. Callum McFadzean came on after half-time to replace Robson and within a minute of the second half, his shot took a deflection past Marek Štěch in the Yeovil goal to give Sheffield United the advantage. Both sides had chances to score but the match ended 1–0.[4] The second leg of the semi-final took place three days later at Huish Park in Yeovil. Kevin Dawson levelled the tie when he put the home side ahead on five minutes after a pass from Ed Upson. Sheffield United's Jamie Murphy struck the Yeovil bar with a shot before Upson scored from a Paddy Madden cross with five minutes remaining to send his side to Wembley with a 2–1 aggregate victory.[5]

Brentford faced Swindon Town in the other play-off semi-final and the first leg was played on 4 May 2013 at the County Ground in Swindon. Swindon's Massimo Luongo opened the scoring with a curling shot from the edge of the penalty area. In injury time, Luongo fouled Harry Forrester in the Swindon box to concede a penalty. The spot kick was scored by Kevin O'Connor and the match ended 1–1.[6] The second leg of the semi-final was held at Griffin Park in Brentford two days later. The home side dominated the early play and went ahead midway through the half after Adam Rooney scored an own goal. Brentford doubled their lead in the 40th minute when Clayton Donaldson struck from the edge of the Swindon penalty area. Rooney scored four minutes later to make it 2–1 to the home side before Donaldson scored with a chip early in the second half. Joe Devera's 57th-minute volley made it 3–2 and in injury time Aden Flint headed goal levelled the match at 3–3 and the tie at 4–4. Despite Swindon's Nathan Byrne being sent off, the extra time period ended goalless and the game went to a penalty shootout. The first six spot kicks were converted before Miles Storey's strike was saved by the Brentford goalkeeper Simon Moore. No other penalties were missed and Brentford won 5–4 in the shootout to progress to Wembley.[7]

The Yeovil manager described Hadden's opening goal as "a sublime piece of ingenuity". Speaking of the play-offs, he described his team as having "three great games" which had "brought the club together, even more so than if [Yeovil] had gone up automatically."[18] His counterpart Rösler was reflective: "This club has not been at this level for decades ... this squad has lifted the club to a higher level."[18]

Ten years after being promoted from non-League football, Yeovil were promoted to the second tier of English football.[12][17] Yeovil Town ended the following season bottom of the Football League Championship, and were relegated back to League One.[19] Brentford finished second in League One in their next season, and gained automatic promotion to the Championship for the 2014–15 season.[20]

• Foster, Richard (2015). The Agony & The Ecstasy. Ockley Books. ISBN 978-1-910906-00-2.