Coventry City v Exeter City: League Two play-off final – live!

28 May 2018 01:57
Live updates from the 3pm BST kick-off at WembleyThe Fiver: sign up for our daily football emailEmail Nick or tweet @NickAmes82 2.57pm BST Half of Wembley is absolutely packed, right to the top tier – that’s the Sky Blue one. The Exeter end is rather sparser, but no less passionate I’ll be bound. 2.55pm BST The teams are on the pitch at Wembley – handshakes, anthems, hugs . we’re almost ready . 2.53pm BST @NickAmes82 MK would be a good move for Tisdale I reckon; they had one of the biggest L1 budgets last year and I’d expect the same in L2. The team needs some TLC but the chairman is pretty patient, the ground is swanky, and they were in the Championship only a couple of years agoThose are fair points. I wonder whether a Championship club or, at least, a well-established League One club could have a go for him though. 2.45pm BST Tisdale on his future: “It’s [this match] delayed that process. The players have stayed focused and done very well. It’s been a long 10 days but let’s get this game done, there’ll be a lot of movement in professional football over the summer.”That’s not an “I’m staying”, is it? 2.43pm BST More Jordans than a Katie Price lookalike contest in Amman. pic.twitter.com/hzDXpXhE6kHow many can *you* count? 2.35pm BST Mark Robins speaks: “Both teams are close, they finished five points ahead of us in the league and are a good side. Interesting team selection from them today and it’ll be a tactical game.” 2.34pm BST Exeter got this far by beating Lincoln 3-1 on aggregate. That was unarguable-with. Coventry’s progress past Notts County, 5-2 on aggregate and with a 4-1 win in the second leg at Meadow Lane, with rather more controversy – McNulty scored a questionable late penalty in at the Ricoh and Notts had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside when things were tight in the second. But none of that matters anymore. Here we are! 2.27pm BST Where might this game be decided? The strikers are never a bad place to start and these teams have one prolific front man apiece: Marc McNulty, of Coventry, scored 25 times in the league this season and Exeter’s Jayden Stockley has scored 20. This will come back to bite me but I really can’t see this one ending up goalless. 2.22pm BST Funny situation for Tisdale, isn’t it, and one that clearly hurt him. There’s more of a touch of the Wengers about it, and that’s why he deserves so much credit for turning things back around at one of the league’s smaller clubs. There’s a fair chance this could be his last game for Exeter, though – MK Dons are strongly linked but I think Tisdale, who’s been in his post for 12 years, can do better than that. 2.19pm BST Big day for the Sky blues at Wembley , here's wishing @Coventry_City all the best and get the job done . To all the thousands of Cov fans have a safe journey, sing loud , cheer the lads on and have a great promotion party .com on Cov pic.twitter.com/0AaOdAxDdbReally good, clever player Whelan, wasn’t he? 2.17pm BST And – look away now, Grecians – this is what befell Exeter at this very venue a year ago . Related: Blackpool’s Mark Cullen sinks Exeter City in League Two play-off final 2.15pm BST For what it’s worth, which I think is “little” on a day like this, Exeter won 1-0 when these two met in Devon four months ago – but Coventry won 2-0 at the Ricoh in September. Find omens if you want but I’m blasted if I can! 2.09pm BST Coventry: Burge; Grimmer, Willis, Hyam, Stokes; Bayliss, Doyle, Kelly, Shipley; McNulty, Biamou. Subs: O’Brian, McDonald, Maguire-Drew, Thompson, Reid, Ponticelli, Clarke-Harris.Exeter: Pym; Sweeney, Storey, Moore-Taylor, Moxey; Harley, Tillson, Boateng, Woodman; Taylor, Stockley. Subs: Jones, James, Archibald-Henville, Simpson, Jay, Wilson, Edwards. 12.55pm BST The domestic season is drawing to a close – and with an absolute cracker in prospect, too. This should be an excellent League Two play-off final and there are some great storylines buzzing around it, too.Are Coventry City on their way back? It would very much be despite their owners, Sisu, and an enormous feather in the caps of Mark Robins and an exciting young team that we saw plenty of in a nice little FA Cup run that saw them beat Stoke. This is a club that has deserved so much more than it’s been given and, for an idea of its potential, around 33,000 Coventry fans will be at Wembley together. For a fourth-tier game. That’s quite something. Continue readingreadfullarticle

Source: TheGuardian