The Excitement of the EFL Play-Off Finals
League football may have finished but that doesn’t mean the drama of the finals has! Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve had the excitement of the EFL play-offs taking over our screens. Throughout June, we have the highs and lows of some of the most important games in English and European football to look forward to. And, we have some of the very best vintage football shirts to go alongside the big occasions.
The EFL Play-Off Finals
Over the past weeks, some of the biggest games in the English Football League took place — the play-off finals. These finals are some of the biggest games in club history, bringing in money, fans and ultimately, the chance to play at a higher level.
Championship Play-Off Final
The play-off weekend was kicked off by Coventry and Luton who were watched by a sold out Wembley Stadium. Luton put in a strong first half performance despite losing their captain early on. They went 1-0 up within 25 minutes and had 2 goals disallowed in the first half!
Coventry came out stronger in the second half, bringing it level in the 66th minute thanks to a Gyokeres and Hamer link up, one that we’ve seen so much throughout the season.
120 minutes couldn’t separate the two sides, the game went to penalties. After 11 penalties, Dabo stepped up for Coventry who put it high and wide. This miss saw Luton get promoted to the Premier League for the first time in 31 years — meaning Kenilworth Road will officially be a Premier League stadium.
League 1 & 2 Play-Off Final
After the drama of the Championship final, next on the schedule was the League 2 final between Carlisle United and Stockport — another one that went to penalties.
After a first half own goal from Carlisle, Stockport were in the driver's seat for the majority of the game — it looked like Stockport were on track to gain back-to-back promotions. It took a late 85th minute Carlisle United goal to put Stockport’s League 1 dreams on hold for at least 30 minutes. After extra time, the teams were level and the second final of the weekend went to penalties which saw Carlisle United promoted to League 1 for the first time in 9 years after a 5-4 shootout win.
The final game of the play-off weekend was the League 1 play-off final, Sheffield Wednesday who were playing in a Yorkshire derby final again against Barnsley. Their last day out at Wembley ended in heartbreak because of a Mo Diame wonderstrike for Hull City back in 2016.
After a controversial two halves, the game went to extra time after a solid defensive performance from Barnsley who went down to 10 men early on. The game went into the 120th minute still level at 0-0 and it was looking like it was going to be a hat-trick of penalty deciding finals.
That was until Josh Windass stepped up and followed in his father’s footsteps, scoring the winner in the 123rd minute to put Wednesday ahead — 15 years after the famous volley from Dean Windass for Hull.
Vintage English Football League Shirts
After a season of ups, downs and everything in between, the season is finally over and we have a couple of months away from the stress of the football world. Just because the season is over though, that doesn’t mean you can’t treat yourself to a classic football shirt! Here at That Vintage Football Shirt, We have a huge range of vintage English football league shirts to get you prepared for next season! From the depths of the National League, all the way to the highest level of English and World football, we have it all.
Stepping away from the EFL, we have a range of huge European finals taking place. Both the men’s and women’s Champions League final taking place, as well as the Manchester derby FA Cup final to name a few — perfect for our vintage European football shirt collection!