So another season of League Two football has come to an end and following their win in the playoffs, Southend United have won promotion and will join Bury, Shrewsbury Town and Burton Albion in League One next season. At the other end of the table, it was misery for Tranmere Rovers, who ended their 94 year stay in the football league, who were relegated with Cheltenham Town. Here is your League Two end of season review:
League Two End of Season Review
Burton Albion will play in England’s third tier for the first time in the club’s history following their championship win. Gary Rowett had led the club until he left to join Championship outfit Birmingham City at the end of October, but the arrival of former Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink two weeks later didn’t affect the Brewers promotion push. The Brewers ended the season unbeaten in twelve games and five points above 2nd placed Shrewsbury.
Shrewsbury Town made an immediate return to League One following last season’s relegation, finishing 2nd in the league behind Burton. The Shrews impressive home form helped them gain promotion, having lost just once at New Meadow all season until a final day defeat against Plymouth. But Micky Mellon’s side were consistent throughout, and fully deserve their promotion.
On the final day of the season, the final automatic promotion place was between three teams; Southend United, Bury and Wycombe Wanderers. At the start of the day, Southend occupied that final spot, but suffered a final day defeat against Morecambe. Wycombe had been in the top three since late September, but dropped out with just two games remaining. The Chairboys won their final game, but so did Bury, leaving the Shakers to gain that final spot.
Bury had been in and around the playoffs for much of the season, and even occupied a top three spot around October. Over the course of the season, the Shakers, managed by David Flitcroft, deserved promotion.
Joining Burton, Shrewsbury and Bury in League One next season are Southend United. The Shrimpers won the hard way as they overcame Stevenage and Wycombe through the playoffs. Southend were disappointed by the final day defeat, dropping them back into the playoffs, but the Shrimpers drew 1-1 with Stevenage in the first leg. The return leg at Roots Hall ended in a Southend win after extra time. Into the final, and the Shrimpers were up against Wycombe, a team that had been in the top three for much of the season. The sides ended 90 minutes goalless, before Wycombe took an early lead in extra-time. But with seconds remaining in the added 30, Southend leveled. The game went to penalties, and the Southend keeper Daniel Bentley, who had an epic season, saved two penalties, sending his side to League One.
Of the other three sides in the playoffs, Wycombe will be bitterly disappointed. As mentioned, the Chairboys had been in a promotion position for much of the campaign. Despite dropping out of the automatic promotion places and losing in the playoffs, Wycombe can still look back at the season with a lot of pride, having only avoided relegation from the football league on the final day of the previous season.
Stevenage, who have now appointed former England and Manchester United striker Teddy Sheringham as their new manager, failed to make an immediate return to League One, losing to eventual winners Southend in the playoffs. The Boro still had a pretty successful season, and behind building for the next campaign under Sheringham.
Plymouth, like Stevenage, have also lost their manager in the last week, but with John Sheridan deciding to leave by mutual consent. Following a disappointing play-off performance, both parties deemed best that Sheridan leaves, as the club look for a new manager ahead of next season.
Luton Town’s first season back in the football league was pretty successful. Despite only dropping out of the playoffs with a few weeks of the regular season remaining, the Hatters finished just three points behind Plymouth. An all round good debut season then it seems, led by the experienced football manager John Still.
Newport County, Exeter City, Morecambe and Northampton Town all came close to a play-off finish, falling just short in the end. Newport had been in and around the playoffs for much of the season, whilst Exeter City’s push from the bottom half showed signs of improvement. Morecambe and Northampton put on some decent performances, but ultimately were too inconsistent through the season.
At the turn of the new year, Oxford United were struggling at the wrong end of the table, at the same time that Northampton were just outside the playoffs. The end of the season saw both sides finish level on points as the U’s had a decent serge, which included an eight game unbeaten run at the end of the season.
Dagenham were just outside the bottom two at new year, but finished 14th, 18 points clear of the bottom two. Aided by talisman striker Jamie Cureton’s 19 league goals, the Daggers had finished the season in pretty good form.
AFC Wimbledon and Portsmouth both had quite an inconsistent season. The Dons home form was relatively good, but their away form severely let them down. Portsmouth’s change of managers may have had some effect, but ultimately the south-coast club weren’t good enough over the course of the season. However, under new manager Paul Cook, Pompey have a lot to look forward to next term.
Accrington Stanley, York City and Cambridge United all had a disappointing campaign, despite Cambridge making their return to the football league. All three clubs were at the wrong end of the table for much of the campaign, and a vast improvement is needed next season.
Carlisle avoided successive relegations with a couple of weeks to spare. Still, the Cumbrians had a poor campaign, as did Adam Murray’s Mansfield Town, with both clubs finishing too close to the drop for comfort.
Under Ronnie Moore, Hartlepool United recorded a great escape. In mid-March, the Pools were eight points from safety, but a run of four successive victories lifted them out of the bottom two. In the end, Hartlepool finished four points clear of the bottom two, despite winning just once in their last six games.
Cheltenham Town and Tranmere Rovers were the two sides to suffer relegation. Tranmere ended the season bottom due to a six game losing streak, whilst the Robins, under new manager Gary Johnson, won just once in ten games.
Matt Tubbs, who began the season at Wimbledon before moving to Portsmouth, was the leagues top scorer with 21 goals, followed closely by 39 year old Dagenham forward Jamie Cureton. Plymouth’s Reuben Reid scored 18, with Northampton forward netting 17 from the fewest appearances of the top goalscorers. Shrewsbury Town’s James Collins scored 15, with Oxford United’s Danny Hylton netting 14, the same as Southend striker Barry Corr (not including the playoffs), Exeter striker Tom Nichols and Pompey midfielder Jed Wallace.
