Brewers Droop

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Monday 26 May 2014 at Wembley
Result	Burton Albion 0 Fleetwood 1
Competition	League Two Playoff Final
Hopping	22nd visit to the “new” Wembley and completing a playoff final quadruple for this year (Championship, One, Two, Conference)
Pre-match preparation
Both teams are playing for their first chance to go up to the third tier of English football.  Fleetwood were a step 5 club in the North West Counties League at the turn of the century and their rise up the pyramid has been steady and rapid.  They were managed by former West Brom midflelder Mickey Mellon when I visited their ground.  This is their second season in League Two and would take them within one step of local rivals Blackpool.  Burton have a current West Brom connection in that their assistant manager is Kevin Summerfield.  They have been in the league a few years longer and this is their second year running in the playoffs as they were semi-finalists last season.
This match in one sentence
Fleetwood hung on reasonably easily after scoring a somewhat fortuitous second half goal in the least dramatic of this weekend’s playoff finals.
So what?
Fleetwood head to League One next season.
The drama unfolds
Both teams played direct attacking football at a lively tempo, but in general the defences were on top.  Burton’s goalkeeper Dean Lyness made a splendid save in the opening moments but the game settled into a sparring pattern thereafter.  0-0 at halftime The decisive goal game from a freekick way out on the left flank from Antoni Sarcevic.  The presence of an attacker helped to distract Lyness who could then only deflect the ball into the net for a relatively soft goal.  Burton forced a few late corners and Fleetwood wasted a two-on-two break, but the Cod Army were celebrating well before the final whistle came.  Final score 0-1 Clips: Burton are in yellow 1 First half scene-setter 2 Fleetwood first-half pressure 3 Just before the break 4 Second half under way 5 In the last few minutes 6 Final Burton effort
Ground Pix
Spot the spelling mistake .. those scarves may be worth a fortune one day! No bits of Bobby Moore today - am running out of things to photograph at Wembley...
Match Pix
Huddle Stats
Burton huddled, Fleetwood didn’t.  The Brewers never had a chance. 2013-14 Summary so far: P W D L GF GA Pts Pts per Game Non-Huddlers 33 17 3 13 55 54 54 1.64 Huddlers 19 6 5 8 20 19 23 1.21 Twin Huddlers 2 0 2 0 3 3 2 1.00 Huddle bef ET 1 0 0 1 5 6 0 0.00 2nd Half Huddlers 1 0 0 1 1 2 0 0.00
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Grey (Burton) plays Green (Fleetwood) so the gap has been reduced.  Whatever happens now the Petr Cech “orange is best” theory has been debunked. 2013-14 Summary so far: 3pts for a win, 1pt for a draw, -1pt for a goal conceded and +5pts for a clean sheet P W D L GA (-1 each) CS (5 each) Pts Pts per Game Red 3 2 0 1 3 1 8 2.67 Grey 14 7 2 5 15 5 33 2.36 Green 13 7 1 5 16 4 26 2.00 Purple 2 1 0 1 6 1 2 1.00 Yellow 5 1 2 2 9 1 1 0.20 Blue 6 2 1 3 12 1 0 0.00 Radioactive Bile 4 2 0 2 7 0 -1 -0.25 Orange 3 1 1 1 6 0 -2 -0.67 Pink 7 1 3 3 16 0 -10 -1.43 Maroon 1 0 0 1 2 0 -2 -2.00
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details.

Miller Time

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Sunday 25 May 2014 at Wembley
Result	Leyton Orient 2 Rotherham United 2 aet Rotherham win 4-3 on penalties
Competition	League One Playoff Final
Hopping	21st visit to the “new” Wembley and I heart playoffs. There, I’ve said it.
Pre-match preparation
Not a lot to be honest.  Generally this game seems to be too close to call with most of the “neutrals” in my Twitter timeline favouring Orient because of the historical unpopularity of Rotherham manager Steve Evans in some quarters.
This match in one sentence
Two down at half-time, Rotherham drew back level and took the lead for the first time in the game with the last, decisive spotkick in the shootout.
So what?
Back-to-back promotions for Rotherham, who will be in the Championship next year, and heartbreak for Orient and their fans.
The drama unfolds
Maybe Rotherham looked marginally stonger and assertive in the first half an hour, but then Orient took control with two goals before the break.  Moses Odubajo hit a screamer from the edge of the area and then got to the byeline to set up a tap-in for Dean Cox.  2-0 at half-time Second half, and enter Alex Revell stage centre.  Always a solid performer for me in CM01-02 in one of my virtual lives as Cambridge manager, he lit up Wembley with a brace of goals.  The first one was a straightforward finish, but the second was a dipping shot from about thirty yards that drew grudging admiration from the Orient end too.  Orient finished strongly, but there were no more goals within the ninety minutes.  2-2 after 90 minutes Both sides will have players who might think they could have won the game in extra time.  It really had been a great spectacle for the neutral, and the fact that it went to a shootout was no great surprise.  Orient took an early lead after Rotherham’s second penalty was saved, but after Orient missed their fourth penalty Richard Smallwood turned the tie through 180 degrees as he gave Rotherham the 4-3 lead with the fifth spotkick.  This meant Chris Dagnall had to score, but his effort was saved and one half of the stadium erupted.  Cruel, dramatic, compelling, as the final clip shows.  Back for more tomorrow, me.  3-4 in penalty shootout Postscript - only just realised that Alex Revell used to play for Orient. Ouch. That's gotta hurt. Clips: Orient are in red. 1 - First half 2&3 - late Orient pressure before 90 minutes up 4 - almost the end of extra time 5 - the last two spotkicks - credit to the Orient teammate who goes over to Chris Dagnall, who hasn't moved from the penalty spot
Ground Pix
Bobby Moore's Bum. As regular readers know, I am running out of Bobby bits to feature in these blogposts.
Match Pix
Ben Pringle keeps Rotherham in it by making it 2-2 with the third penalty Nathan Clarke makes it 3-2 to Orient James Taverner levels the scores at 3-3 and my stills camera batteries give up ... see clip 5
Huddle Stats
No huddles until the end of 90 minutes, then Orient made the critical error of huddling before the second half of extra-time. 2013-14 Summary so far: P W D L GF GA Pts Pts per Game Non-Huddlers 32 16 3 13 54 54 51 1.59 Huddlers 18 6 5 7 20 18 23 1.28 Twin Huddlers 2 0 2 0 3 3 2 1.00 Huddle at HT in ET 1 0 0 1 5 6 0 0.00 2nd Half Huddlers 1 0 0 1 1 2 0 0.00
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Purple (Orient) plays Blue (Rotherham). 2013-14 Summary so far: 3pts for a win, 1pt for a draw, -1pt for a goal conceded and +5pts for a clean sheet P W D L GA (-1 each) CS (5 each) Pts Pts per Game Red 3 2 0 1 3 1 8 2.67 Grey 13 7 2 4 14 5 34 2.62 Green 12 6 1 5 16 3 18 1.50 Purple 2 1 0 1 6 1 2 1.00 Yellow 5 1 2 2 9 1 1 0.20 Blue 6 2 1 3 12 1 0 0.00 Radioactive Bile 4 2 0 2 7 0 -1 -0.25 Orange 3 1 1 1 6 0 -2 -0.67 Pink 7 1 3 3 16 0 -10 -1.43 Maroon 1 0 0 1 2 0 -2 -2.00
What Next?
Burton Albion v Fleetwood tomorrow in the playoff final for League Two.