Does anyone remember what happened in the last League One Play-Off final?
I thought so, well, I’m predicting a very similar series of events for this year’s final.
Leyton Orient and Rotherham meet on Sunday afternoon with a Wembley win being the difference between a season in the Championship and another year in League One.
Orient boss, Russell Slade has been to this play-off final before – Glovers fans will probably remember that one too – in 2007 he guided Yeovil to the final, but a strong Blackpool performance sent the Tangerines up at Slade and Yeovil’s expense.
In fact, Slade doesn’t have the greatest record in finals. He lost the 2006 League Two final with Grimsby Town.
Slade will once again be in charge of the underdogs as bookmakers make Orient big outsiders to big spending Rotherham United.
The Millers are managed by one of the more interesting characters in the game, Steve Evans has previously managed Boston United and Crawley, but it’s probably best to gloss over most of his controversial career.
What we can be sure of is that he has galvanised his Rotherham side to a fourth place finish with a former Glover, Kieran Agard key to the success of the side.
Agard, who was made famous as the ‘Twansfer’ made by Yeovil manager Terry Skiverton after suggestions on Twitter has scored 22 times this season.
Orient will be hoping that David Mooney will carry on his good form and add to his 19 goals this term.
Interestingly, of those 19, 11 of those have been the first goal of the game – something to consider if backing a ‘first goal scorer’.
These two sides drew their play-off semi final first legs before wrapping up their ticket to Wembley with home wins in the second leg.
Orient toppled Johnstone Paint Trophy winners Peterborough, while Rotherham took out Simon Grayson’s Preston to get to the final.
Only goal difference separated the two sides in the regular league season and five out of the last seven meetings have been settled by a one goal margin.
Another tight game is almost guaranteed, each team won their home fixture in the last two meetings as well, suggesting this is going to be a very close affair.
But with last year’s final still in our minds, I’m going to suggest the game goes a very similar way.
Rotherham are the favourites and I’ll be backing them to make Evans and the Millers fans happy but it won’t be easy.
I have put together a few bets to consider – just how many remind you of last year’s League One final?
Rotherham to win 2-1 in 90minutes – 17/2
Kieran Agard and David Mooney to both score in 90 minutes. – 11/2.
Rotherham to win by exactly one goal (90 minutes) – 3/1
And for something a little bit different.
Rotherham to be winning 2-0 at Half Time – 12/1
This can be found under “Match Specials”
Yeovil Town will be hosting the losers of this game next season, will Slade or Agard be returning to Huish Park during the 2014/15 season?
To open a Sky Bet account and help the club earn ££ click here
Yeovil Town and SkyBet promote responsible gambling for over 18s.
Odds correct at time of writing, subject to change.
For information on responsible gambling visit www.gambleaware.co.uk