Crewe Alexandra finished the regular 2023–24 season in sixth place in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They finished 15 points behind Mansfield Town (who were promoted in third place), 17 behind second-placed Wrexham and 21 points behind league winners Stockport County.[2]
Crewe ended the season with only one win in their last nine league games. They played fifth placed Doncaster Rovers in a two-leg semi-final. The first leg was played at Crewe's Mornflake Stadium on 6 May. Doncaster Rovers won the game 2–0 with goals from Luke Molyneux and Harrison Biggins.[3] On 10 May in the return leg at Doncaster's Eco-Power Stadium, Crewe overturned the two-goal first-leg deficit with goals from Mickey Demetriou and an own–goal from James Maxwell. The match was decided with a penalty shoot–out which Crewe won 4–3 with goalkeeper Max Stryjek, at the club on an emergency loan from Wycombe Wanderers, saving penalties from Zain Westbrooke and Hakeeb Adelakun. With the win, Crewe became the fourth team in play-off history to come back from a two-goal deficit in the first-leg, on their home ground, and still make the final.[4]
Crawley Town finished in seventh place, a point behind Crewe Alexandra. They played Milton Keynes Dons who finished in fourth place, eight points behind third placed Mansfield Town.[2] Playing in their first play–offs, in the first–leg, played on 7 May at Crawley's Broadfield Stadium, Crawley won 3–0 with goals from Liam Kelly, Jay Williams and Ronan Darcy.[5] The second leg was played on 11 May at Stadium MK. After only three minutes Jay Williams scored for Crawley, Danilo Orsi adding a second in the 30th minute. Max Dean scored for Milton Keynes Dons late in the first–half. The one–sided game continued in the second–half with Orsi scoring in the 48th minute. Dean's penalty was saved by Crawley goalkeeper, Corey Addai before Jack Roles scored in the 80th minute and Orsi completed his hat–trick in the second minute of added time to make the final score 5–1 and 8–1 on aggregate, the largest aggregate victory in EFL play–off history, as Crawley advanced to the play–off final and their first ever game at Wembley.[6]
Match
Background
Crawley Town were allocated 19,556 tickets for the West End of Wembley Stadium and a maximum of 38,676 tickets, if required.[7]
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