Event | 2016–17 EFL League Two | ||||||
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Date | 28 May 2017 | ||||||
Venue | Wembley Stadium, London | ||||||
Referee | Darren England | ||||||
Attendance | 23,380 | ||||||
The 2017 EFL League Two play-off final was an association football match played on 28 May 2017 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Blackpool and Exeter City. The match determined the fourth and final team to gain promotion from EFL League Two, English football's fourth tier, to EFL League One. The top three teams of the 2016–17 EFL 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 2017–18 season in League One. Blackpool finished in seventh place while Exeter ended the season in fifth position. Luton Town and Carlisle United were the losing semi-finalists.
The match kicked off around 3 p.m in front of 23,380 spectators and was refereed by Darren England. Three minutes into the game, Potts put Blackpool ahead: Jack Payne made a long pass to Mark Cullen, who played it to Potts. He ran on and struck the ball first-time into the far corner of the Exeter goal. With five minutes of the half remaining, David Wheeler scored the equaliser with a lob over Sam Slocombe from just inside the Blackpool penalty area to make it 1–1 at half-time. In the 64th minute, Cullen put Blackpool back into the lead. Potts made a run into the Exeter penalty area and crossed the ball: Pym deflected it with his foot only for Cullen to finish it with an outstretched leg. Late pressure from Exeter failed to produce any goals, and despite five minutes of injury time, the match ended 2–1 to Blackpool who were promoted to League One.
Blackpool finished their following season in twelfth place in League One. In their next season, Exeter City finished in fourth position in League Two and qualified for the play-offs where they lost 3–1 against Coventry City in the final.