Crawley seals promotion on first visit to Wembley
Crawley Town beat Crewe Alexandra 2-0 in the EFL League Two play-off final to seal promotion to League One and cap a perfect debut trip to Wembley.
In its 128-year history, Crawley had never played at the home of football, and it made the absolute most of the opportunity having finished seventh in the regular season, the last play-off spot in the league.
Crawley, which had been widely tipped for relegation at the start of the season, thrashed MKDons 8-1 on aggregate in its semi-final, and dealt relatively easily with Crewe to join Stockport County, Wrexham and Mansfield Town as the quartet promoted up a division.
Daniol Orsi scored the first goal in the 42nd minute, his quick feet allowing his space to perform a trivela finish and send Crawley's fans wild.
Crewe was awarded a penalty soon after the restart but VAR – used for the final but not the regular season – advised referee Ben Toner to review after Christopher Long had gone down in a one-on-one with Crawley keeper Corey Addai. The advice proved warranted as it revealed Long had dived, and the decision was cancelled, along with the yellow card issued to Addai.
The result was all but sealed when Liam Kelly netted five minutes from time, sending Crawley up and Crewe to lick its wounds as another season in League Two looms.
