Okay, this is unashamedly football-geeky. I’m going to tell
the story of the last day of the season in the Championship (aka the Second
Division) … which is (trivia) the fourth most supported division in Europe,
apparently. If you haven’t heard how it went, I hope you’ll find the story as
well-constructed and tense as I did, following it at the time.
It’s one of those stories with three simultaneous and interdependent
threads, with different characters, whom I shall now introduce. At the top of
the table, fighting for one automatic promotion to the Premier League, were
Hull City and Watford. Hull had slumped in recent weeks, but still remained one
point above Watford, so if both teams got the same result, Hull would go up.
They had identical goal differences, so if Hull lost and Watford drew, Watford
would go up. Hull were playing the division champions, Cardiff City; Watford
faced once-great Leeds United, who had ended the season strongly.
Thread Two involved two places in the end-of-season
play-offs for the final promotion place. Four teams were fighting for two places:
Crystal Palace, Bolton, Nottingham Forest, and Leicester. With four points
separating these four teams, Palace could afford to draw unless Bolton and
Forest both won, while up and coming Leicester needed Forest to lose, and
Bolton to draw or lose. Leicester were playing Forest, which added some
winner-takes-all spice to an already intense local derby.
Thread Three involved teams facing relegation, of whom there
were no fewer than seven: five main players and two bit-part players. The bit-part players, 51-point Wolverhampton
Wanderers and 57-point Blackburn, needed a combination of unlikely
circumstances and a goal deluge to change their status – and no such miracles
occurred, so Wolves went down and Blackburn were safe. But this left 5 teams
separated by 3 points: Barnsley (54), occupying the final relegation spot at the
start of the day; Peterborough (54); Sheffield Wednesday (55); FA Cup
semi-finalists Millwall (56); and Huddersfield (57, but with the poorest goal
difference of all 5 teams). To add spice, Barnsley were playing Huddersfield (another
local derby), while Peterborough were trying to put a dent in Crystal Palace’s
promotion hopes.
As is normal on the last day of the season, all the matches
started simultaneously, so that no team would find itself ending its game
knowing exactly how many goals they had to score to achieve their goal. And for anyone completely new to English football, teams get three points for a win and one point for a draw; if teams are level on points then the placings are decided by goal difference (total goals scored minus total goals conceded).
And now, the drama begins …
5 minutes: Notts
Forest 1 Leicester 0. Forest move above Bolton into the play-off zone.
11 minutes:
Sheffield Wednesday 1 Middlesbrough 0. Wednesday climb to the top of the pack of those trying to avoid relegation.
16 minutes:
Huddersfield 0 Barnsley 1. Peterborough drop into the relegation zone; but if
Peterborough score, Huddersfield will drop four places in the table (that kind
of move is normally seen only in the early season) into the relegation slot.
25 minutes:
Bolton 0 Blackpool 1
N Forest 1 Leicester 1
Despite conceding a goal, Bolton still sneak back into the
play-off place, above Forest on goal difference.
30 minutes:
Crystal Palace 0 Peterborough 1. Is the mass escape on? Huddersfield drop into
the relegation zone! Palace’s position
is unchanged, for now.
32 minutes:
Sheffield Wednesday 2 Middlesbrough 0
Bolton 0 Blackpool 2.
Bolton still hold the final play-off
place, but a goal for either Leicester or Forest would eject them.
In other potentially significant news: Watford lost their
first choice goalkeeper with an injury in training before the match. Now their
second choice keeper has been hurt quite badly. Their third choice goalkeeper,
a teenager, comes on. And the length of time spent treating the
injury means that Watford’s match is now running fifteen minutes behind all the
others.
35 minutes: Hull’s
top scorer Jay Simpson has to be substituted. His replacement, Nick Proschwitz,
has only scored four goals all season. This is not good news for a team who
haven’t scored any goals in their previous three games.
42-45 minutes (except
at Watford):
N Forest 1 Leicester 2
Watford 0 Leeds 1
Bolton 1 Blackpool 2
Crystal Palace 1 Peterborough 1
Bolton 2 Blackpool 2
Whew! Leicester’s goal knocks Bolton out of the play-offs,
but two goals in two minutes for Bolton
mean Leicester are hanging on to a play-off place by goal difference. Leeds’
goal means that Hull, still drawing 0-0 with Cardiff, can afford to lose and
still be promoted. And Palace’s goal maintains their position at the head of
the four play-off contenders, and drops Peterborough back into the relegation
zone.
42-45 minutes (at
Watford):
Watford 1 Leeds 1. We’re back to the situation where If
Watford score or Hull concede, Watford will take the automatic promotion place.
The Interval:
Thread One, arguably the most important, has been quiet up till now, but there has
been plenty of action in Threads Two and Three; the key positions have changed
hands three or four times already, and the five teams fighting to avoid
relegation are still separated by three points, but in a different order! So are you ready for the second half?
55-60 minutes:
N Forest 2 Leicester 2
Hull 0 Cardiff 1
Huddersfield 1 Barnsley
1
Watford now occupy the promotion place, and Bolton the last
play-off place. And Barnsley drop back into the relegation spot, below Peterborough
on goal difference.
60 minutes: Proschwitz
misses a sitter. Hull remain 1-0 down.
60-75 minutes:
Hull 1 Cardiff 1
Hull 2 Cardiff 1
Crystal Palace 1 Peterborough 2
Promotion is Hull’s again, with two goals in four minutes,
the first from Proschwitz. If they win, there’s nothing Watford can do to catch
them. And are Peterborough now safe?
75-80 minutes:
Huddersfield 1 Barnsley 2. Now just one point covers the five teams trying to
avoid relegation, and once again it’s Huddersfield at the bottom of the pile.
65 minutes at
Watford: Watford have a man sent off.
80 minutes:
Huddersfield 2 Barnsley 2. Once again, Barnsley replace
Huddersfield as relegation candidates.
Crystal Palace 2 Peterborough 2. And once again,
Peterborough require goal difference to keep them out of the relegation spot.
Derby 1 Millwall 0. If Barnsley and Peterborough both take the
lead again, it’ll now be Millwall in the relegation zone rather than Huddersfield.
85 minutes:
Crystal Palace 3 Peterborough 2
N Forest 2 Leicester 3
Five minutes to play, and the sixth change to the relegation
zone this afternoon sees Peterborough holding the unwanted prize. And Leicester
are back in the play-offs, along with Crystal Palace.
88 minutes:
Penalty to Hull! It’s taken by Proschwitz and … it’s saved!
Cardiff break down to the other end, and in the ping-pong chaos of Hull’s
penalty area, one of their defenders handles the ball. Penalty to Cardiff!
90 minutes:
Hull 2 Cardiff 2. And the final whistle goes here, and in
all the other matches apart from Watford’s. Watford have fifteen minutes to
score one goal that would see them promoted to the Premier League.
85 minutes at
Watford: Still 1-1. Some Hull players are watching TV; others cannot bear
to watch, and are sitting with their heads in their hands or are walking up and
down corridors.
88 minutes at
Watford: There’s a goal! And it’s gone to … Leeds! A mistake by Watford’s
third choice goalkeeper lets Ross MacCormack in for a goal that surely seals
Hull’s promotion to the Premier League!
90 minutes at
Watford: The final whistle sees despair at Watford and jubilation in Hull.
Hull City have been promoted to the Premier League; in a newspaper article the
next day, Hull’s manager calls their promotion “ridiculous”. Leicester achieve
the combination of results that they needed to grab the last play-off place,
along with Crystal Palace. And the churning washing machine at the bottom of
the league finally spits out Peterborough as the losers in the race to avoid
relegation.
So the curtain falls for another season. Apart from the
play-offs, that is. Watford against Leicester could be quite a game …
