 The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff | |||||||
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| Date | 28 May 2005 | ||||||
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| Venue | Millennium Stadium, Cardiff | ||||||
| Referee | Martin Atkinson (Yorkshire) | ||||||
| Attendance | 19,653 | ||||||
The 2005 Football League Two play-off final was an association football match played on 28 May 2005 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, between Southend United and Lincoln City. The match determined the fourth and final team to gain promotion from Football League Two, English football's fourth tier, to Football League One. The top three teams of the 2004–05 Football League Two season gained automatic promotion to League One, while the teams placed from fourth to seventh in the table took part in play-off semi-finals; the winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place for the 2005–06 season in League One. Southend United finished in fourth place while Lincoln City ended the season in sixth position. They defeated Northampton Town and Macclesfield Town, respectively, in the semi-finals.
The match was refereed by Martin Atkinson in front of 19,653 spectators. The first 90 minutes finished goalless, and was described by Jamie Jackson in The Observer as "tepid, uninventive fare", so the game went into extra time. The first goal was scored just before half-time in the first period of extra time, when Spencer Prior flicked on Nicky Nicolau's corner and Freddy Eastwood struck Matt Bloomer's clearance into the Lincoln goal. With ten minutes of extra time remaining, Eastwood ran at the Lincoln defence and passed the ball square to Duncan Jupp who scored his first league goal in a decade to give Southend a 2–0 lead. No further goals were scored, securing Southend a 2–0 win and promotion to League One.
Lincoln City ended their following season in seventh position in League Two and qualified for the play-offs where they lost 3–1 on aggregate to Grimsby Town in the semi-final. Southend United secured back-to-back promotions when they finished the following season as champions of League One.