2011 Football League Championship play-off Final

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
2011 Football League Championship play-off final
Swansea City AFC Championship Play Off Winners 2011.jpg
Event 2010–11 Football League Championship
Reading Swansea City
England Wales
2 4
Date 30 May 2011
Venue Wembley Stadium, London
Man of the Match Scott Sinclair (Swansea)
Referee Phil Dowd
Attendance 86,581
Weather Light rain
← 2010
2012 →

The 2011 Football League Championship play-off final was a football match contested by Reading and Swansea City on 30 May 2011 at Wembley Stadium to decide the third team to be promoted from the Championship to the Premier League for the 2011–12 season.[1]

Under Championship play-off rules, the final is contested by the two teams which secured an aggregate victory over two-legged semi-finals, with the team that finished sixth in the league table (Nottingham Forest) having played third (Swansea City), and fifth (Reading) having played fourth (Cardiff City).

Swansea City won the final by a scoreline of 4–2. The Welsh side went into half-time 3–0 up thanks to two goals from Scott Sinclair and a third from Stephen Dobbie. Reading came close to bringing the score level in the early stages of the second-half through a Joe Allen own goal and a headed goal from Matt Mills. Swansea however, secured victory in the 80th minute with their second penalty kick of the game, converted by Sinclair for his second career hat-trick.[2]

Venue controversy

Due to the UEFA Champions League 2011 final being held at Wembley Stadium on 28 May 2011, it appeared that the three Football League play-off finals may have to be played at a different venue for the first time since 2007 due to the double-booking of Wembley.

Manchester United's Old Trafford had been confirmed as a possible alternative, while Arsenal's Emirates Stadium and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff were also said to be under consideration to host the Championship, League One and League Two play-off finals.[3]

It was later confirmed that Wembley would host the Championship play-off final on 30 May, while Old Trafford would host the League Two and League One finals on 28 and 29 May respectively.[4]

Route to the final

The two-legged semi-finals determined that the final would be contested by Reading and Swansea City.

First legs

12 May 2011
19:45 BST
Nottingham Forest 0 – 0 Swansea City
Report
City Ground, Nottingham
Attendance: 27,881
Referee: Mike Dean (Cheshire)

13 May 2011
19:45 BST
Reading 0 – 0 Cardiff City
Report
Madejski Stadium, Reading
Attendance: 21,485
Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)

Second legs

16 May 2011
19:45 BST
Swansea City 3 – 1 Nottingham Forest
Britton Goal 28'
Dobbie Goal 33'
Pratley Goal 90+3'		 Report Earnshaw Goal 80'
Liberty Stadium, Swansea
Attendance: 19,816
Referee: Andre Marriner (West Midlands)

Swansea City won 3–1 on aggregate.

17 May 2011
19:45 BST
Cardiff City 0 – 3 Reading
Report Long Goal 28', 45' (pen.)
McAnuff Goal 84'

Reading won 3–0 on aggregate.

Match overview

Build-up

Accountancy firm Deloitte calculated that the Championship play-off final would again be worth about £90,000,000 to the winner, including over £40,000,000 of higher broadcast income, gate receipts and commercial income in the 2011-12 Premier League.

A win would also see Reading return to the Premier League after a three-year absence. Swansea City last played in England's top-flight in 1983, but a victory would make them the first Welsh team to enter the contemporary 'Premier League' since its establishment in 1992.[5]

Summary

A hat-trick which included two penalty kicks from Scott Sinclair helped Swansea City secure promotion to the Premier League for the first time since 1983. Two goals in two first-half minutes for Sinclair, the first a penalty, and a third from Stephen Dobbie saw the Welsh side go into the dressing room at half-time with a seemingly comfortable 3–0 advantage.[6]

Television reports suggested that in the tunnel at half-time, Reading's assistant manager Nigel Gibbs and unused substitute Jay Tabb were both sent off by referee Phil Dowd.

Reading struck back early in the second half, however, through a Noel Hunt header which deflected in off Joe Allen for an own goal and a headed goal by Matt Mills to pull the score back to 3–2. Reading came close to an equaliser when Jem Karacan's shot was deflected onto the post, but Sinclair sealed it for the Swans with an 80th-minute penalty, and in doing so completing his second career hat-trick.[7]

Details

30 May 2011
15:00 BST
Reading England 2–4 Wales Swansea City
Allen Goal 49' (o.g.)
Mills Goal 57'		 Report Sinclair Goal 21' (pen.), 22', 80' (pen.)
Dobbie Goal 40'
Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 86,581
Referee: Phil Dowd[8]
Reading
Swansea City
GK 1 Australia Adam Federici
RB 2 England Andy Griffin Booked 8' Substituted off 84'
CB 5 England Matt Mills (c)
CB 15 Georgia (country) Zurab Khizanishvili Booked 12'
LB 23 Republic of Ireland Ian Harte
CM 4 Turkey Jem Karacan
CM 8 Antigua and Barbuda Mikele Leigertwood
RW 14 Mali Jimmy Kébé
LW 11 Jamaica Jobi McAnuff Booked 39'
CF 9 Republic of Ireland Shane Long
CF 10 Republic of Ireland Noel Hunt Substituted off 76'
Substitutes:
GK 41 England Alex McCarthy
DF 24 England Shaun Cummings
DF 26 Scotland Alex Pearce
MF 7 Republic of Ireland Jay Tabb Red card
MF 19 Wales Hal Robson-Kanu Substituted in 84'
MF 20 England Brian Howard
FW 18 Wales Simon Church Substituted in 76'
Manager:
England Brian McDermott
GK 1 Netherlands Dorus de Vries
RB 22 Spain Àngel Rangel
CB 16 England Garry Monk (c)
CB 2 Wales Ashley Williams
LB 5 England Alan Tate
CM 37 England Leon Britton Substituted off 77'
CM 24 Wales Joe Allen Booked 54' Substituted off 89'
RW 12 England Nathan Dyer
AM 14 Scotland Stephen Dobbie Substituted off 55'
LW 21 England Scott Sinclair
CF 15 Italy Fabio Borini Booked 12'
Substitutes:
GK 25 Democratic Republic of the Congo Yves Makabu-Makalambay
DF 17 Spain Albert Serrán
MF 8 England Darren Pratley Substituted in 55'
MF 27 England Mark Gower Booked 82' Substituted in 77'
MF 29 Wales Ashley Richards
FW 9 Scotland Craig Beattie
FW 19 England Luke Moore Substituted in 89'
Manager:
Northern Ireland Brendan Rodgers

MATCH OFFICIALS

  • Assistant referees:
    • Scott Ledger
    • Simon Long
  • Fourth official: Lee Mason
  • Reserve referee: Andrew Halliday

MATCH RULES

  • 90 minutes.
  • 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary.
  • Penalty shoot-out if scores still level.
  • Seven named substitutes.
  • Maximum of three substitutions.

Statistics

Swansea City celebrate their victory
Reading Swansea
Total shots 19 6
Shots on target 11 4
Ball possession 47% 53%
Corner kicks 16 1
Fouls committed 18 4
Offsides 3 0
Yellow cards 3 3
Red cards 1 0

Source: BBC Sport[7]

References

  1. ↑ The Football League | Match | Key Dates | Key dates
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ "Congratulations Stephen Dobbie" 30 May 2001 www.qosfc.com
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons

Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=2011_Football_League_Championship_play-off_Final&oldid=717034481"