2023/24 League Two Play-Offs

[Less than a mile (WAFC)]

Is it? We're very used to play off failure. So used to it that the only predictions for us to win it all seems to be coming from outside the club.

I am fully expecting to still be a League 2 club come August.

I suppose finishing as the highest placed team in the play offs always adds some pressure and maybe expectancy (from outside).

I don't think at the start of the season Crewe, definitely Crawley or Doncaster as recently as March expected to be top 7 so potentially seen more as an added bonus/ opportunity to go up.

 

[Sussexred]

We're still pinching ourselves that we are in the play offs.
No pressure really as nobody expects us to get through anyway.

 

[Casey]

Don't know what the Dons allocation is for sure (thought it would be 1,000ish) but we've priced at our normal rates. £15 to stand £17 to sit ain't bad.

I want to win, we've never been to Wembley. If we get there, I'd want to win that soooo badly.

I really want us to turn up though. Most times there's a big crowd we stay in the dressing room. Bloody annoying.

Good luck to all just don't bring your shooting boots.

Casey

 

[Scum.]

Don't know what the Dons allocation is for sure (thought it would be 1,000ish) but we've priced at our normal rates. £15 to stand £17 to sit ain't bad.

I want to win, we've never been to Wembley. If we get there, I'd want to win that soooo badly.

I really want us to turn up though. Most times there's a big crowd we stay in the dressing room. Bloody annoying.

Good luck to all just don't bring your shooting boots.

Ours will be £24 I think. We charge quite a lot compared to most, I assume because we like to keep the undesirables away from stadium:mk and limit the crowd so we don’t sell out every week and it is manageable. Nothing worse than stewarding and policing costs. Must be that.

 

[DearneValleyRover]

I hope I haven't stolen Alfie's thunder on this one, but I thought it was worth starting a thread up. So, who you got coming out of these 4 teams?

MK Dons
The Dons probably could have gone up automatically had they gone for Mike Williamson last summer rather than wasting 10 odd games under Graham Alexander, who was the never the right fit for them. They've been in excellent form since Williamson came in, going 19-5-9 under him. They've undoubtedly for me got the best midfield out of the 4 teams. Gilbey, Payne, Kemp and Bate are an absurd group. Also got Max Dean in great form as well, with dangerous depth behind him in Tezgel, Harrison and Dennis(if he's fit). The big question marks will be over their defence, as they let in 68 goals, including 19 in their last 7 games.

At home, they'll be tough to knock off, having only lost twice under Williamson. But away from home, they could be vulnerable, as they are prone to a few wobblers. I'd still have them as the slight favourites to get promoted, but their play-off curse is real and it might come back to haunt them once again.

Doncaster Rovers
The most inform team for sure. Their season was a disaster as late as early February after barely scraping a 1-1 draw at Sutton in game 31. Did the fans not turn on McCann because they thought he could turn it around or was it because there were no better options out there? Either way, the fans didn't turn, the board didn't fire him and it paid off. Of course everyone focuses on the 10 game winning run, but their good form goes back further. They are 13-4-1 in their last 18 games, which a ridiculous run. Since their 5-1 hammering against Stockport, they've won 8 straight at home. They seem to have gotten key players at the right time. Matty Craig and Owen Bailey look solid in the middle, they arguably have the best defensive pairing in the league in Anderson and Wood and their front 3 of Luke Molyneux, Joe Ironside and Hakeem Adelekun are in stupid good form.

They'll feel confident of progress to the final given their form, but losing Lo-Tutala for the 1st leg might complicate things. And how many times have we seen the in form team come a cropper in the play-offs?

Crewe Alex
Nobody gave them a chance of the top 7 back in August, but they've sat in the play-offs since early September and only dropped out of them briefly at the turn of the year. They are the opposite of Doncaster though in that whilst Donny started off injury prone and recovered players, the Alex have seen injuries/absences to key starters pile up. They hit a terrible skid in March and April after looking like automatic contenders at the end of February. 2 wins from their last 12 games and only 7 goals scored in that time is a big concern, as is their home form, as they are 2-2-5 at Gresty Road since late January.

Still, their away form has been solid. They lost to both Donny and MK Dons, but aside from that, they've been good on the road, going 5-5-2 since Boxing Day and conceding just 10 goals in that span. We look more comfortable away from Gresty Road, so being level or slightly behind after the 1st leg might not be game over. Although I do think we need to be leading after the 1st leg. Regardless of what happens though, it's been a fantastic season for the Alex and Lee Bell. We've got a dangerous striker in Elliott Nevitt, solid all round players in Demetriou and Adebisi and others in Tabiner, Holicek, Kirk, CBR and Long who can be threats on their day.

Nobody will give us a sniff, which should work in our favour. But it's hard to see a path to the final at this point. However, when we've been written off before, we've responded with our best performances of the season. We'll need more of that once again.

Crawley Town
The shock of the season no doubt. Everyone had they tipped to go down, so to reach the top 7 is one of the greatest achievements in League Two that we've seen in the last 5 or so years. Scott Lindsey, the rightful manager of the season, oversaw a fire sale of the likes of Dom Telford, Jack Powell and James Tilley and actually improved. They took a rag tag team of misfits and lower league players and moulded them into a unit. Danilo Orsi(and his stupid celebration) scoring 19 goals, a guy nobody had heard of before this season in Klaidi Lolos banging in 13, Liam Kelly having a bounce back after a shocker at Rochdale, guys plucked from the non-leagues becoming key contributors. It's been an incredible story.

But, is there an element of fortune about them? 18 defeats for a top 7 is a crazy high amount. They seem very boom or bust. The xG table(if you take it seriously) says they massively overachieved. Still, they are where they are for a reason. They seem like a plucky group who don't give up and will go into the play-offs like Crewe with low expectations placed on them, which they clearly have used as a motivational tool all season. They'll be written off against MK Dons, but they've surprised everyone all season. Why can't they do that again in the play-offs?

1st Leg
Monday 6th May
Crawley Town v Milton Keynes Dons(15:00)
Crewe Alexandra v Doncaster Rovers(17:30)

2nd Leg
Thursday 9th May
Milton Keynes Dons v Crawley Town(20:00)

Friday 10th May
Doncaster Rovers v Crewe Alexandra(20:00)

So, who you got coming through? Logic says MK v Donny in the final, but wouldn't a Crewe v Crawley final be so typical of L2?

I don’t know where the rumour that we turned on McCann has come from because that couldn’t be further from the truth. The only person the fans turned on was our now ex chairman, David Blunt.

 

[DearneValleyRover]

What did the Doncaster goalkeeper do to get sent off? When I see a Goalkeeper get a straight red 9/10 it's a professional foul/denial of goalscoring opportunity job so that would be a one match ban and would only miss their first leg

If he's nutted someone then ignore the above.

Handled the ball outside the area and the ref thought it was a goal scoring opportunity, I’m not convinced but it wasn’t worth losing an appeal for a one game ban

 

[WhiteRussian]

I am not happy with the mind games at our gaff for the semi final home game. Sod the ''Bring the noise' crap. We have a 30000 seater stadium and I'm sorry but if any Crawley fan who wants one doesn't get a ticket at our place that is obscene.

Open all the bottom tiers, let every fan who wants a ticket in in and we'll take our chances, Hate hate hate mind games.

 

[Meadow]

Romantically I'd love to see Crewe, Donny or Crawley do it. However I want to see the back of Franchise because playing them is a pain in the arse

 

[WhiteRussian]

Romantically I'd love to see Crewe, Donny or Crawley do it. However I want to see the back of Franchise because playing them is a pain in the arse

Yes, I know you wont see this because you have blocked us all and are feeling as smug as a dirty little bug in a rug about it, but look on the bright side, you aren't in the equation so bye.

 

[DippyDon]

Romantically I'd love to see Crewe, Donny or Crawley do it. However I want to see the back of Franchise because playing them is a pain in the arse

But you love playing us? A tap in was your goal of the season because it was against us, you’ve given a guy that’s played about 20 games legend status because he scored against us, your ‘best game of the season’ according to fans, was against us.

You love playing us if you win, you just do it so rarely you kid yourselves that you hate it.

 

[Scum.]

But you love playing us? A tap in was your goal of the season because it was against us, you’ve given a guy that’s played about 20 games legend status because he scored against us, your ‘best game of the season’ according to fans, was against us.

You love playing us if you win, you just do it so rarely you kid yourselves that you hate it.

This.

It’s the classic I don’t care when we lose but I love it when we win mentality.

 

[Crewelad87]

we've been allocated 1589 tickets for the 2nd leg at Donny. Abit less than what we've given them, but I'm guessing they've gone with the Bare minimum and given us 10%.

 

[JJ1990]

Hard to complain about the allocation, we took 1,400 to Notts County which was a better away day, on a Saturday and with reduced prices.

Think we'll come close to selling out, but I doubt if we'd have needed many extra. I don't blame them for giving the minimum, they'll likely shift well over 10,000.

 

[Dan Phillips]

It isn't - the final is on Sunday 19 May.

Our play-off final against Torquay in 1998 was moved to the Friday night though because England were playing a friendly on the Saturday against somebody like Saudi Arabia.

Drew 0-0 as well.

About 600 is all we are getting right? Based on history, reckon we would have taken between 1,500 and 2,000 if we could, so a bit of a shame but understandable given Crawley's small capacity.

As for the PO's, we must be one of the worst at them despite our short history, given 5 semi-finals in L2 and L1 = 5 losses already.

I think PNE were the worst at one point (before they finally won one the year we went up in 2nd from L1), and I recall Cardiff had an abysmal record too.

Love to know who is the worst if anyone knows?! Any stattos?

Brentford must be up there surely? I swear they'd lost every single one they'd been in (or close to) until their recent promotion to the top flight?

 

[Crewelad87]

Hard to complain about the allocation, we took 1,400 to Notts County which was a better away day, on a Saturday and with reduced prices.

Think we'll come close to selling out, but I doubt if we'd have needed many extra. I don't blame them for giving the minimum, they'll likely shift well over 10,000.

I'm not so sure, I think we will sell them pretty quickly. Certainly a positive result on Monday and they will be gone by Tuesday.

 

[Casey]

Long queues at the Crawley ticket office today. Problems with the WiFi connection to process payments etc.

Today and tomorrow for season tickets holders only (hopefully getting mine tomorrow) but I hope they sort it before they go on general sale or it could be carnage.

Casey

 

[JJ1990]

I'm not so sure, I think we will sell them pretty quickly. Certainly a positive result on Monday and they will be gone by Tuesday.

Could do I suppose, especially with it being a Friday night. Just nice to have a reasonable allocation for once, haven't had one of this size since 1995. Last 2 were against Luton and Southend with their tiny away ends.

 

[Scum.]

Well Crawley have given us 700 tickets in the end, so slightly more than 10% of their ground capacity. Guessing that means we will give them more than the 2,000 we have to give. Assume we will give 3,000 (roughly 10% of capacity).

 

[DearneValleyRover]

we've been allocated 1589 tickets for the 2nd leg at Donny. Abit less than what we've given them, but I'm guessing they've gone with the Bare minimum and given us 10%.

There’s rumours the home tickets wouldn’t make general sale so possibly making sure we have enough

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

There’s rumours the home tickets wouldn’t make general sale so possibly making sure we have enough

As it should be. Should always put your own first.

Did find it funny some Doncaster fans moaned we wouldn't give them more tickets though. We didn't have to give Doncaster any more than 1000 and have given them the full away end. Wouldn't have got that at Crawley or Barrow. Plus we've just had nearly 7500 of our own home fans for Wrexham so no reason as to why we can't get close to that again.

Think the away allocation will sell very quickly. Wrexham went in 24 hours and that was about 500 less. With the game being on a Friday Night, reasonably local and it being of such big importance everyone is looking for a ticket. Will be amazed if it's not sold out by Friday.

 

[DearneValleyRover]

As it should be. Should always put your own first.

Did find it funny some Doncaster fans moaned we wouldn't give them more tickets though. We didn't have to give Doncaster any more than 1000 and have given them the full away end. Wouldn't have got that at Crawley or Barrow. Plus we've just had nearly 7500 of our own home fans for Wrexham so no reason as to why we can't get close to that again.

Think the away allocation will sell very quickly. Wrexham went in 24 hours and that was about 500 less. With the game being on a Friday Night, reasonably local and it being of such big importance everyone is looking for a ticket. Will be amazed if it's not sold out by Friday.

We like a good moan in Donny

 

[Camdenite v.ii]

Well Crawley have given us 700 tickets in the end, so slightly more than 10% of their ground capacity. Guessing that means we will give them more than the 2,000 we have to give. Assume we will give 3,000 (roughly 10% of capacity).

Nah, they’ve got 2,000. Already announced.

 

[Scum.]

Curious as to what the attendance at Wembley will be this time around. Any guesses?

Last few League Two play-off attendances unaffected by COVID:

2019 - Newport v Tranmere - 25,317
2022 - Mansfield v Port Vale - 37,303
2023 - Stockport v Carlisle - 34,004

Would expect whoever of us is in the final to draw a bigger attendance than these, especially given our travel distances to Wembley compared to these clubs?

We took 33,000 to Wembley in 2008 for the JPT final against Grimsby but perhaps the desire isn’t the same these days (back then we were riding the wave of new club, successful L2 title winning season and the national stadium itself was new and a novelty).

 

[Crewelad87]

Curious as to what the attendance at Wembley will be this time around. Any guesses?

Last few League Two play-off attendances unaffected by COVID:

2019 - Newport v Tranmere - 25,317
2022 - Mansfield v Port Vale - 37,303
2023 - Stockport v Carlisle - 34,004

Would expect whoever of us is in the final to draw a bigger attendance than these, especially given our travel distances to Wembley compared to these clubs?

We took 33,000 to Wembley in 2008 for the JPT final against Grimsby but perhaps the desire isn’t the same these days (back then we were riding the wave of new club, successful L2 title winning season and the national stadium itself was new and a novelty).

We will take somewhere between 12,000 - 16,000 if we got there I'd think.

I'd guess Donny would have around 20,000

Crawley and MK hard to guess, both alot closer and have large catchment areas.

 

[Scum.]

We will take somewhere between 12,000 - 16,000 if we got there I'd think.

I'd guess Donny would have around 20,000

Crawley and MK hard to guess, both alot closer and have large catchment areas.

I would hazard we would take about 25,000 this time. Probably a more accurate statement for us all, is how many people we think will sit in our end / associate with us for 1 day

 

[WhiteRussian]

I would hazard we would take about 25,000 this time. Probably a more accurate statement for us all, is how many people we think will sit in our end / associate with us for 1 day

Really? you think the Londoner premier club supporters and armchair sky fans will even get off their asses for MK Dons? We are screwed for a good few years yet. I would hope 20k but .........

 

[Scum.]

Really? you think the Londoner premier club supporters and armchair sky fans will even get off their asses for MK Dons? We are screwed for a good few years yet. I would hope 20k but .........

Just based on the JPT attendance 16 years ago and nothing else, though I do admit that was a prestigious competition so unsurprising so many came.

 

[Casey]

Our biggest turn out was about 11,000 for an away match at Old Trafford.

We have slightly bigger crowds than we did then so I hope we could beat that...if we beat Dons.

Casey

 

[Meadow]

Our biggest turn out was about 11,000 for an away match at Old Trafford.

We have slightly bigger crowds than we did then so I hope we could beat that...if we beat Dons.

Casey

Depends how you market it. In 2016 we did online sales but we also took over an empty shop in Wimbledon town centre and sold physical tickets and merchandise. I think we took about 25000.

 

[DippyDon]

700 Crawley tickets just went on sale... Thankfully I have mine but I know a fair few expecting to miss out because of the criteria again.