2010 Football League Championship play-off Final

2010 Football League Championship play-off Final

Event	2009–10 Football League Championship
Blackpool Cardiff City 3 2
Date	22 May 2010
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Man of the Match	Keith Southern (Blackpool)
Referee	Andre Marriner (West Midlands)
Attendance	82,244
Weather	Sunny, 28 °C (82 °F)
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The 2010 Football League Championship play-off Final was a football match played at Wembley Stadium in London on 22 May 2010 to decide the third team to be promoted from The Championship to the Premier League for the 2010–11 season.

The culmination of the 2010 Football League Championship play-offs saw Blackpool beat Cardiff City to earn promotion alongside the Championship champions Newcastle United and runners-up West Bromwich Albion. In the match, Blackpool twice came back from going a goal behind, before taking the lead for the first time just before half-time. With no score from either team in the second half, the final result was 3–2 to Blackpool in normal time.

Blackpool entered the play-offs having finished sixth in the 2009–10 Football League Championship, bottom of the play-off places, while Cardiff finished two places above in fourth. Blackpool reached the play-off final after a 6–4 aggregate semi-final victory over third-place finishers Nottingham Forest, while Cardiff in their semi-final beat fifth-placed Leicester City by virtue of a penalty shoot-out.

As a consequence of winning promotion, Blackpool's Bloomfield Road stadium, which has a capacity of just over 16,000, became the smallest stadium to host Premier League football. It also meant Blackpool returned to the top flight of English League football for the first time since the 1970–71 season, when they spent one season in the old First Division, finishing bottom.

Route to the Final

First leg

8 May 2010 12:45 BST	Blackpool	2 – 1	Nottingham Forest	Bloomfield Road, Blackpool Attendance: 11,805 Referee: Phil Dowd
	Southern  26' Adam  57' (pen.)	Report	Cohen  13'

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9 May 2010 13:15 BST	Leicester City	0 – 1	Cardiff City	Walkers Stadium, Leicester Attendance: 29,165 Referee: Alan Wiley
		Report	Whittingham  13'

Second leg

11 May 2010 19:45 BST	Nottingham Forest	3 – 4	Blackpool	City Ground, Nottingham Attendance: 28,358 Referee: Mark Clattenburg
	Earnshaw  7', 66' Adebola  90+2'	Report	Campbell  56', 76', 79' Dobbie  72'

Blackpool won 6–4 on aggregate.

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12 May 2010 19:45 BST	Cardiff City	2 – 3 (a.e.t.)	Leicester City	Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 26,033 Referee: Howard Webb
	Chopra  21' Whittingham  69' (pen.)	Report	Fryatt  25' Hudson  36' (o.g.) King  49'
		Penalties
	Chopra McCormack Ledley Kennedy	4 – 3	Berner Howard Solano Kermorgant Waghorn

Cardiff City 3–3 Leicester City on aggregate. Cardiff City won 4–3 on penalties.

Match details

22 May 2010 15:00 BST	Blackpool	3 – 2	Cardiff City	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 82,244 Referee: Andre Marriner (West Midlands)
	Adam  13' Taylor-Fletcher  39' Ormerod  45+1'	Report	Chopra  9' Ledley  36'

Blackpool

Cardiff City

BLACKPOOL: GK 21 Matthew Gilks RB 31 Séamus Coleman CB 15 Alex Baptiste CB 6 Ian Evatt LB 3 Stephen Crainey RM 11 David Vaughan 90+2' CM 4 Keith Southern LM 26 Charlie Adam (c) RW 19 D. J. Campbell LW 10 Brett Ormerod 60' CF 12 Gary Taylor-Fletcher 53' Substitutes: GK 1 Paul Rachubka DF 24 Rob Edwards MF 29 Barry Bannan 90+2' FW 7 Billy Clarke FW 9 Ben Burgess 53' FW 18 Jason Euell FW 33 Stephen Dobbie 60' Manager: Ian Holloway

CARDIFF CITY: GK 1 David Marshall RB 2 Kevin McNaughton 74' CB 5 Mark Hudson (c) CB 23 Darcy Blake LB 3 Mark Kennedy RM 11 Chris Burke 58' CM 10 Stephen McPhail CM 16 Joe Ledley LM 7 Peter Whittingham CF 9 Jay Bothroyd 15' CF 8 Michael Chopra Substitutes: GK 20 Peter Enckelman DF 12 Tony Capaldi DF 14 Paul Quinn DF 15 Anthony Gerrard 74' MF 17 Kelvin Etuhu 15' MF 28 Aaron Wildig FW 44 Ross McCormack 58' Manager: Dave Jones

MATCH OFFICIALS Assistant referees: Dave Bryan (Lincolnshire) Adam Watts (Worcestershire) Fourth official: Michael Jones (Cheshire)

MATCH RULES 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions.