2020 National League play-off Final

The 2020 National League play-off Final was a football match contested between Harrogate Town and Notts County to determine the second and final team to gain promotion from the National League to EFL League Two. It was played on 2 August 2020 at Wembley Stadium in London.[1] The first-placed team of the 2019–20 National League season (Barrow) gained automatic promotion to the League Two, while the teams placed from fourth to seventh in the table took part in play-off quarter-finals and teams placed second and third received byes to the semi-finals. The winners of the quarter-finals advanced to play the teams in the semi-finals and the winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place in League Two. The match was refereed by James Bell and played behind closed doors to comply with restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic.

2020 National League play-off Final
The match took place at Wembley Stadium.
Event2019–20 National League
Harrogate Town Notts County
3 1
Date2 August 2020 (2020-08-02)
VenueWembley Stadium, London
RefereeJames Bell
Attendance0[lower-alpha 1]

Harrogate Town took the lead in the fifth-minute with a goal from George Thomson and 23 minutes later Connor Hall doubled the lead. The first half ended with Harrogate leading 2–0. In a minute of the second half Notts County halved the deficit with a free-kick from Callum Roberts, but a goal on 70 minutes from Jack Diamond restored Harrogate's two-goal advantage which they maintained to the final whistle, winning 3–1 to earn promotion to League Two and the English Football League for the first time in their history.[2][3][4]

Route to the final
National League final table, leading positions[5]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts PPG
1 Barrow 37 21 7 9 68 39 +29 70 1.89
2 Harrogate Town 37 19 9 9 61 44 +17 66 1.78
3 Notts County 38 17 12 9 61 38 +23 63 1.66
4 Yeovil Town 37 17 9 11 61 44 +17 60 1.62
5 Boreham Wood 37 16 12 9 55 40 +15 60 1.62
6 Halifax Town 37 17 7 13 50 49 +1 58 1.57
7 Barnet 35 14 12 9 52 42 +10 54 1.54
Main article: 2019–20 National League

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the National League season was temporarily suspended on 13 March.[6] Two weeks later this suspension was extended indefinitely.[7] On 22 April, clubs in National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system, voted to curtail the season, meaning the final table would be calculated by a points-per-game method.[8] The play-offs would then be played between the clubs finishing second to seventh as normal.

Harrogate Town finished the season in second place in the revised league table, one place ahead of Notts County. Both therefore missed out on the one automatic place for promotion to EFL League Two, which went to Barrow. This meant Harrogate Town, Notts County, Yeovil Town (who finished fourth), Boreham Wood (fifth), Halifax Town (sixth) and Barnet (seventh) took part in the play-offs to determine the second promoted team. Harrogate Town and Notts County received byes to the semi-finals to face the winners of the quarter-finals. The winners of the quarter-finals were Boreham Wood, who beat Halifax Town 2–1,[9] and Barnet, who beat Yeovil Town 2–0.[10]

Harrogate Town's opponents in their play-off semi-final were Boreham Wood, the match being played on 25 July 2020 at Wetherby Road, Harrogate. Jack Muldoon scored the only goal of the game with a header on the 64th-minute and Harrogate progressed to the final.[11] Notts County faced Barnet in the other play-off semi-final, the match taking place on the same day as the other on 25 July 2020 at Meadow Lane, Nottingham. A goal either side of half time, first a header from Kristian Dennis in the 37th-minute and one from Callum Roberts in the 59th, meant Notts County won 2–0 and they qualified for the final.[12]

Match

Details
Harrogate Town3–1Notts County
 Report
Attendance: 0[lower-alpha 1]
Referee: James Bell
Harrogate Town
Notts County
GK1 James Belshaw
DF2 Ryan Fallowfield
DF6 Warren Burrell
DF4 Josh Falkingham
DF22 Will Smith
DF20 Connor Hall 59'
MF7 George Thomson0
MF17 Lloyd Kerry 83'
FW25 Aaron Martin 61'
FW18 Jack Muldoon 86'
FW23 Jack Diamond
Substitutes:
GK13 Joe Cracknell
MF8 Jack Emmett
MF11 Joe Leesley
FW9 Mark Beck 86'
FW16 Jon Stead 61'
FW28 Kian Harratt
Manager:
Simon Weaver
GK1 Sam Slocombe
DF5 Ben Turner
DF20 Richard Brindley 87'
DF31 Alex Lacey
DF33 Joel Bagan 27'
MF4 Mitch Rose
MF6 Jim O'Brien 46'
MF8 Michael Doyle
FW9 Kristian Dennis 46'
FW14 Kyle Wootton
FW37 Callum Roberts 53'
Substitutes:
GK40 McDonnell
DF13 Connell Rawlinson
DF16 Dion Kelly-Evans 87'
MF22 Tom Crawford
FW7 Wes Thomas 46'
FW11 Enzio Boldewijn 46'
Manager:
Neal Ardley

Notes
  1. The final was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.

References
  1. "National League: Play-off schedule confirmed for three divisions". BBC Sport. 4 July 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  2. Harris, Daniel (2 August 2020). "Harrogate Town 3–1 Notts County: National League play-off final – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  3. Jones, Mark (2 August 2020). "Harrogate Town promoted to Football League for first time with play-off victory". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  4. Krishnan, Joe (2 August 2020). "Harrogate Town promoted to League Two for first time in 106-year history after play-off win vs Notts County". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  5. "Vanarama National League Table". National League. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  6. "Premier League and EFL suspended until after April 3 due to coronavirus outbreak". The Telegraph. 13 March 2020.
  7. Cunningham, Sam (25 March 2020). "Non-league season ends but clubs face confusion over what happens next". i. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  8. "National League clubs to vote on ending season using points per game". BBC Sport. 13 June 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  9. "Boreham Wood 2–1 FC Halifax Town". BBC Sport. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  10. "Yeovil Town 0–2 Barnet: Bees reach National League semi-finals". BBC Sport. 18 July 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  11. "Harrogate Town 1–0 Boreham Wood". BBC Sport. 2 August 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  12. "Notts County 2–0 Barnet". BBC Sport. 2 August 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
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