 Newport County lift the Conference Premier play-off winners' trophy | |||||||
| Event | 2012–13 Football Conference | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Date | 5 May 2013 | ||||||
| Venue | Wembley Stadium, London | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Christian Jolley (Newport County) | ||||||
| Referee | Michael Bull | ||||||
| Attendance | 36,346 | ||||||
The 2013 Conference Premier play-off final, known as the 2013 Blue Square Bet Premier play-off final for sponsorship purposes, was a football match between Wrexham and Newport County on 5 May 2013 at Wembley Stadium in London. It was the eleventh Conference Premier play-off final and the first ever Wembley Final to feature two teams from Wales.
After not having played in Wembley for 149 years the match represented the second time in the 2012–13 season for Wrexham who reached the final with a 5–2 aggregate win over Kidderminster Harriers following their appearance in the 2013 FA Trophy Final. The final also represented Newport County's second trip to Wembley in less than a year having played in the 2012 FA Trophy Final. Newport had beaten Grimsby Town 2–0 over two legs to reach the play-off final.
The attendance of the match was 36,346. One of the highest attendances in a non league play-off final. Around 25,000 of the fans were supporting Wrexham.
Newport County won the match 2–0 to secure promotion to League Two, re-entering the Football League after a 25-year absence.[1] It was the first time in Conference history that a team had not conceded a single goal in the play-offs.[2]
Whereas the players in the Wrexham team were new to the play-off final, the County team had seven players with previous play-off final experience: Alan Julian had featured for Stevenage Borough in the 2005 final. It was the second successive final for Aaron O'Connor who had featured for Luton Town in the 2012 final. Danny Crow had featured in both the 2009 final for Cambridge United and the 2011 final for Luton Town. It was the fourth final for Robbie Willmott who had featured for Cambridge United in 2009 and Luton Town in the 2011 and 2012 finals. Winning the final for a second time were Ismail Yakubu, Lee Minshull and Christian Jolley who were all part of the victorious Wimbledon team in the 2011 final.
The sides next meeting in a league fixture would not come until the 2023-24 EFL League 2 season. With Wrexham taking a 2-0 win at the Stōk Cae Râs and Newport County taking a 1-0 win at Rodney Parade. Despite County’s win over Wrexham, they did not achieve promotion to the EFL League 1. Wrexham, however, finished 2nd in the league and gained back to back promotions after winning the National League title in the 2022-23 season.
11 years after this final, Newport County remain in League 2 and Wrexham are now in League 1 after only spending 1 season in League 2.
- ^ "Wrexham 0–2 Newport". BBC Sport. 5 May 2013.
- ^ "Newport County victory over Wrexham puts them back into Football League". The Guardian. London. 5 May 2013. Retrieved 28 August 2013.