Tom Bailey (Page 3)

With the National League season coming to a close last week, it can only mean one thing; playoffs are back! I’m here to follow and round up all the goings on of the National League playoffs, as Yeovil wait to find out who they’ll be facing next season. Click here if you’d like to follow the National League North and South journey, and familiarise yourself with the format of these round-ups!

Participants

The playoff picture has stayed steady for the majority of the season, with Barnet ultimately finishing the season as champions meaning York City took second place at a canter, a marked improvement on their final day survival from last season; they’re joined in the semi-finals by Forest Green Rovers, who became the first team in four seasons to finish in the playoffs following relegation.

Rochdale made a late charge to finish fourth, following a large backlog of games being played midweek after pitch issues during the winter period; Oldham Athletic remained in the playoff picture for almost the entire season, comfortably finishing inside the top 7, while FC Halifax Town confirmed a second consecutive season of playoff football with a sixth placed finish. The final spot went to Southend United, marking their first playoff campaign since relegation to the National League; following a slow start, they picked up momentum in the second half of the season to topple Gateshead in the final week or two of the season.

How does it work?

These aren’t your standard EFL playoffs, where 2nd plays 6th home and away, 4th plays 5th home away, and then the winners go to Wembley and have a one-off game to win promotion.

2nd and 3rd will receive a ‘bye’ to the semi-finals, leaving 4th to host 7th, and 5th to host 6th. These are one-off, 90 minute games, that go to extra-time and then penalties if the two contenders can’t be separated.

In the semi-finals, 2nd will host the winner of 4th vs 7th, and 3rd will host the winner of 5th vs 6th. The two winners will go to Wembley to duke it out for a spot in the EFL.

Results

In the quarter finals, we have the following fixtures:

Oldham Athletic vs FC Halifax Town
Rochdale vs Southend United

Starting on Wednesday night, Oldham Athletic thumped FC Halifax Town to book their place in the semi-finals in a 4-0 result. It was action right from the get go for Micky Mellon’s side, as they opened the scoring just four minutes in from a looping corner, Joe Garner leaping athletically to give the Latics the lead. Just six minutes later, it was 2-0, as a free kick was swung towards the back post, finding the head of Mike Fondop; his header went across the face of goal, and Mark Kitching was there to nod it home. Oldham weren’t done there though, as they made it 3-0 in the 13th minute (yes, 13th minute) through Mike Fondop, yet another header beating the Halifax ‘keeper, leaving the Shaymen shellshocked. Two substitutes followed for Halifax, which settled them towards half-time as they tried to make some kind of impact on the game.

The subs didn’t seem to make too much of a difference though, as Oldham continued to outclass them in front of 10,865 fans – and 54 minutes in, the pick of the goals came for the hosts, as Joe Pritchard latched onto the end of a wonderful Vimal Yoganathan ball to hammer it into the left side of the net, giving Oldham their fourth goal and confirming their place in the semi-finals, where they’ll travel to York City on Tuesday night.

If you thought Wednesday night was hectic, wait until you read about Thursday. In 120 breathless minutes, Southend United came from 3-1 down to win at Rochdale. Devante Rodney opened the scoring just eight minutes in with a cute turn, a skip past Nick Hayes in the Southend goal and tucked the ball neatly into the net from an absurd angle. Dale’s lead lasted about 15 minutes, as former Glover Nathan Ralph nodded home a low cross to equalise, but six minutes later, the hosts re-took the lead with a tidy header from Jay Bird.

Into the second half, and it was a contentious penalty for Rochdale that would give them their 3-1 lead, and up until now, it was deserved too; Devante Rodney blasted the spot kick into the top left corner to grab his second of the game, but that was as good as it got for the hosts. 74 minute on the clock, and it was 3-2, as Tom Hopper assisted himself, a wonderful cross landed on his head, hitting the post but he nodded home his rebound to make things interesting; six minutes later, Leon Chambers-Parillon tucked home a parried save from Killian Barrett to equalise for the Shrimpers, eventually forcing extra time!

The visitors continued their pressure in hunt of a winner, and were rewarded not long into extra time, as a header across goal from a corner met Charley Kendall; his header found the back of the net and completed an incredible turnaround for Southend, who will now travel to Gloucestershire next Wednesday to face Forest Green Rovers.

Final Scores

Oldham Athletic 4-0 FC Halifax Town
Rochdale 3-4 Southend United

We’re one step closer to discovering the rest of Yeovil’s 2025/26 opponents, as the remaining playoff participants battle it out for a place in next season’s National League. The table below features all the teams taking part (with the exception of the champions of course), and those struck through have been eliminated already; you can read more about that here.

Participants

It had been confirmed for a couple of weeks already, but with the EFL regular season ending on Saturday, it’s 100% confirmed that Carlisle United and Morecambe are the two relegated sides to join the National League next season. Morecambe were confirmed as relegated on 21st April following a defeat against Salford City, and Carlisle United’s relegation was confirmed a week later after a 3-2 defeat at Cheltenham Town.

Results

The semi-finals were contested in the following fixtures:

National League North
Scunthorpe United vs Chorley
Kidderminster Harriers vs Chester

National League South
Torquay United vs Boreham Wood
Eastbourne Borough vs Maidstone United

We’ll start on Saturday afternoon in the north, where Scunthorpe United went one step further than last season’s heartbreak against Boston, by defeating Chorley in an enthralling encounter! It was a frenetic first half, with Danny Whitehall opening the scoring five minutes in, before Chorley equalised through Kole Hall. Whitehall got his second of the game 15 minutes later, before Callum Roberts added a third for the Iron three minutes later. Things calmed down for a while, before Carlton Ubaezuonu struck a fourth for Scunthorpe to end Chorley’s hopes, despite a late Kole Hall consolation goal.

It was a much less exciting match in the south, despite the upset – Boreham Wood frustrated a buoyant Plainmoor, defeating Torquay United courtesy of a scruffy Matt Rush goal. Torquay huffed and puffed, but were eventually condemned to a third consecutive season of NLS football.

Sunday saw two 2-1 score lines, and further upsets, as playoff drama hit its peak! We’ll start in the south this time, as the 10 men of Maidstone United defeated Eastbourne Borough to boost their place in the final.

Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong gave the visitors the lead shortly before half-time, before Alfie Pavey equalised for Eastbourne just after the hour. With eight minutes remaining, Charlie Seaman was sent off for a second bookable offence, but up stepped Aaron Blair to score the winner in the 90th minute, leaving Eastbourne to lick their wounds after an impressive season.

In the north, Chester came from behind at Kidderminster Harriers to reach the playoff final. Kyle Morrison opened the scoring for Kiddy just 19 minutes in, but 10 minutes before half-time, Dylan Mottley-Henry equalised for the visitors. The second half was closely contested, before an 82nd minute Declan Weeks hit sent the Blues fans into raptures, as Kidderminster prepare for a second season of NLN football.

Both finals will be played on Sunday 18th May, with the northern final being hosted at Glanford Park by Scunthorpe United, and the southern final being played at Boreham Wood’s Meadow Park.

Final Scores

National League North
Scunthorpe United 4-2 Chorley
Kidderminster Harriers 1-2 Chester

National League South
Torquay United 0-1 Boreham Wood
Eastbourne Borough 1-2 Maidstone United

As another season draws to a close, Yeovil Town have booked their place in the 2025/26 National League. While we know what level we’ll be playing at next season, we don’t necessarily know who we’ll be playing next season. The playoffs are back, and I’ve got the rundown on who’s involved and how it works, as well as bringing results in the usual roundup format! You can read last year’s format here to warm up if you’d like to remember that champion feeling!

Participants

Unlike last year, the National League is running out of sync from the North and South, so I’m having to split this up for now. Once the playoff spots have been confirmed for all 7 teams, the National League will join these roundups! From the National League North, it’s Brackley Town who make the leap into the unknown, at least for them it’s the unknown, having never reached the 5th tier of English football in their history. The Saints, employing the likes of former Glover Scott Pollock, won 5-0 on a dramatic final day, finishing on 92 points and ending their run of seven consecutive playoff finishes.

For the second season running, Scunthorpe United fell just short, ending the season in 2nd place; they are joined by a Kidderminster Harriers side looking to bounce back up to the National League at the first opportunity. These two teams are receiving ‘byes’, this will be explained a little later on! The remaining sides battling for the second promotion spot include Chester, a side that led the table for a portion of the season before drifting off towards the end of the campaign and Chorley, who register their second consecutive playoff appearance. King’s Lynn Town improved massively on their 18th place finish from last season to qualify, while in their first season as a full time club, Buxton squeezed into the final spot on the final day.

Into the National League South, and in the most enthralling title race that I’ve ever seen, it was Truro City who defied the odds to win the division, having been homeless, relegation-threatened and the team that Yeovil defeated to win the title just 12 months earlier – they, like Brackley, will compete at the highest level in the club’s history, and become the first Cornish side to compete in the fifth tier – congratulations to them!

Looking at the “also-rans”, Torquay United and Eastbourne Borough both had dramatic upturns in success, finishing 18th and 19th respectively last season; they both receive byes to the semi-finals. Making their return to the playoffs is Worthing, who despite being raided by National League sides, have continued their great recruitment and growth. Both of last season’s relegated NL sides, Boreham Wood and Dorking Wanderers reached the post-season, and Maidstone United have the final spot secured, returning to the playoffs for the second season on the bounce.

How does it work?

These aren’t your standard EFL playoffs, where 2nd plays 6th home and away, 4th plays 5th home away, and then the winners go to Wembley and have a one-off game to win promotion.

2nd and 3rd will receive a ‘bye’ to the semi-finals, leaving 4th to host 7th, and 5th to host 6th. These are one-off, 90 minute games, that go to extra-time and then penalties if the two contenders can’t be separated.

In the semi-finals, 2nd will host the winner of 4th vs 7th, and 3rd will host the winner of 5th vs 6th. In the National League, the two winners will go to Wembley to duke it out, but in the National League North and South, the highest remaining team will host the final (if 3rd and 4th make the final, 3rd will host the game).

Results

In the quarter finals, we have the following fixtures:

National League North
Chester vs Buxton
Chorley vs King’s Lynn Town

National League South
Worthing vs Maidstone United
Boreham Wood vs Dorking Wanderers

There were two fixtures on Tuesday night, one from the North, and one from the South; we begin in the north, where Chorley booked their spot in the semi-final with a 1-0 win over King’s Lynn Town. Mark Ellis scored an 84th minute goal in a cracker of a fixture to separate the two sides, as King’s Lynn were knocked out and will be preparing for a fourth season in the NLN. Chorley meanwhile, will travel to Scunthorpe United on Saturday.

The clash in the south was quite the affair; Boreham Wood came from two goals down to win a dramatic 4-3 thriller over Dorking Wanderers. The hosts took the lead courtesy of Erico Sousa within the first 15 minutes, and headed into half-time with their lead intact. That changed shortly after the break, as TWO Femi Ilesanmi own goals, and a Jason Prior goal gave Dorking a 3-1 lead with 10 minutes of normal time to go.

By this point, the Wanderers were also down to 10 men, Jimmy Muitt received his marching orders for a second yellow card, and the Wood took advantage of this. Abdul Abdulmalik scored in the 83rd minute, Cameron Coxe scored six minutes later, before Femi Ilesanmi made amends for his own goals with a 96th minute hit to condemn Dorking to a second season of NLS football; Boreham Wood face Torquay United on Saturday.

The two Wednesday night fixtures saw goals aplenty as well, we’ll begin in the north as Chester defeated Buxton in extra time to progress to the semi finals. The hosts took the lead inside two minutes thanks to Iwan Murray, but Buxton pulled one back 15 minutes later with a Tom Elliott goal; both sides went into half-time, then full-time level pegging. Harrison Burke was the difference maker though, his 108th minute goal booked their spot in the semi finals against Kidderminster Harriers, and left Buxton in despair.

In the south, Worthing were knocked out by Maidstone United in a night to forget for the hosts – two Ben Brookes penalties, one in the first half, and one just before the end of the game means the Stones are visiting Eastbourne Borough for their semi final battle, while Worthing will have to wait another season to achieve their promotion ambitions.

Final Scores

National League North
Chorley 1-0 King’s Lynn Town
Chester 2-1 Buxton (AET)

National League South
Boreham Wood 4-3 Dorking Wanderers
Worthing 0-2 Maidstone United