Blackpool And Exeter Target League One Promotion

Blackpool And Exeter Target League One Promotion
14:39, 25 May 2017

Blackpool meet Exeter in Sunday's League Two Play-off Final at Wembley Stadium with Paul Tisdale's teams the slight favourites to go up.

Despite continued turmoil off the field at Bloomfield Road, Gary Bowyer has led the Tangerines to a Wembley final in his first full season in charge.

This is Blackpool’s seventh EFL Playoff Final – they have won four and lost two. Their last trip to Wembley was in 2012 when they lost 2-1 to West Ham in the second tier final.

A Premier League club as recently as 2011 Blackpool have won four of their last five play-off finals - three of them at Wembley and one at the Millennium Stadium. They reached the final despite only finishing seventh - some 15 points shy of automatic promotion and just a point above eighth place.

Prior to this season they suffered back-to-back relegations from the Championship to L2 in previous two seasons and are in the fourth tier for the first time since 2000-01.

They come into this game on the back of a decent run with just one defeat in their last seven and have won four of their last six. Blackpool have only lost three of their last 18. However, they have failed to score in three of their last nine games.

Bowyer was previously in charge of Blackburn and has never been involved in the the EFL play-offs or promotion as a manager.

The player to watch is former Luton striker Mark Cullen who has scored nine goals in his last 14 apps, scoring five goals in his last five appearances including a hat-trick in the first leg of the semi-final

Exeter are making only their third trip to Wembley in their 116 year history and all three of those have come under Tisdale in the last 10 years. On their last trip to the national stadium they beat Cambridge United 1-0 in the 2008 Conference play-off final.

In their first trip to Wembley in 2007, they lost 2-1 to Morecambe in the 2007 Conference playoff final - Tisdale's first season in charge. Exeter were last in League one in 2012 but this season they made the final with a 6-5 aggregate win over Carlisle in the semi-finals. They only finished fifth this season - some 14 points off automatic promotion.

This has been a remarkable season for Exeter when you consider they were bottom in November.  They went on a seven match winning run between December and February to emerge as a play-off contender. In fact, only Leyton Orient and Newport spent more time in the relegation zone this season. Exeter have won three of their last five.

Manager Tisdale has been in charge since June 2006 and has enjoyed two promotions and suffered one relegation. He is the longest serving manager in the EFL and won back-to-back promotions with Exeter from Conference to League One in 2007-08 and 2008-09. He has had only one relegation as Exeter manager which was from League One in 2011-12.

Reuben Reid is a player to watch for the Grecians. He has scored six goals in his last 11 appearances - 14 in total for the season - and joined the club from rivals Plymouth. Also, Ollie Watkins has scored 16 goals this season and assisted in eight.  

David Wheeler has scored 20 goals in last 39 appearances in all competitions and has scored three in his last five appearances. He scored in seven matches in a row from December to February and also provided seven assists.

Head to head

  • Never met in playoffs before this season
  • Never met in a final or at Wembley before
  • Blackpool unbeaten in both league meetings this season – won 2-0 at home (August 6) and drew 2-2 away (February 25)
  • First season they’ve met since 2000-01.
  • Exeter’s last win was 2-0 at home in March 2001. Gary Birch and Steve Flack scored for Noel Blake’s side. 16-year-old Ethan Ampadu’s dad Kwame was in the Grecians side.
  • Exeter won one of last five matches (D1 L3).
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