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