League Two Play-Off Final Preview: Exeter City v Northampton Town

A meeting between Exeter and Northampton is more commonly a battle for honours in Rugby Union these days, but on Monday night, football does the talking.

The two sides go head to head in the League Two play-off final which takes place at Wembley, with a spot in League One up for grabs.

Exeter came from behind to see off Colchester after extra time in their semi-final, while Northampton produced a remarkable comeback to shock Cheltenham and secure their place in the final.

Matchday FM’s Chris Coughlin analyses both sides & the challenges they've overcome to reach this stage.

Exeter & Northampton will face each other behind closed doors at Wembley

Exeter keen to make up for play-off pain

Exeter City are no strangers to the play-offs.

Prior to a poor ninth place finish in the fourth tier last season, Exeter had been involved in the post-season promotion battle for the past two seasons.

In 2017, they defeated Carlisle in one of the greatest EFL Playoff semi-final ties of all time.

Exeter took the lead four times over the course of the tie with Carlisle pegging them back in either leg, coming from two goals behind twice..

With the scores level at 5-5, Jack Stacey, now of Bournemouth, smashed home a swerving left-foot drive with the last kick of the game to send the Grecians to Wembley, where they were beaten 2-1 by a resurgent Blackpool side

There was more heartbreak for Exeter a year later as they were simply overpowered by Coventry City in the showpiece occasion, losing 3-1.

Midfielder Nicky Law has been a superb signing for Exeter since joining in 2018

In addition to that Wembley torture, there’s been several high-profile departures in recent years, such as long-serving manager Paul Tisdale and star striker Ollie Watkins.

Exeter have had to regroup.

Ryan Bowman signed from Motherwell in January 2019 to replace the Preston-bound Jayden Stockley and, after five goals in 18 games last season, has spearheaded Exeter’s promotion push this year with 14 goals in 37 matches.

Former Rangers midfielder Nicky Law has also been a revelation for the club since joining in 2018, adding goals and assists to the side in an attacking midfield role to make up for the losses of Watkins and Tom Nichols.

Both played their part Exeter summoned their powers of determination and recovery to come from behind and see of Colchester in their semi-final tie.

Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, goals from Aaron Martin and Jayden Richardson put them ahead before Courtney Senior capitalised on a goalkeeping error to take it to extra time.

In the additional half an hour, Bowman was the hero at St James' Park, scoring the winner in the 111th minute to set the Devon outfit on their way to Wembley once again.

Exeter will be hoping for a case of third time lucky.

Northampton’s fighting spirit

Northampton have been through a lot both on and off the pitch in recent years, but their performance in the second leg against Cheltenham epitomised the “never say die” attitude of a club that has come back from the brink of existence.

The club are looking for a £500,000 loan to help complete their new stand, which is just one problem that highlights the issues at the club in times gone by.

Life on the pitch has also been a rollercoaster for the Cobblers in recent seasons.

After storming to the League Two title in 2016, Northampton spent just two seasons in League One before relegation back to the fourth tier.

There was a disappointing 15th place finish in the 2018/19 campaign before the club secured the final play-off spot this year, made all the more remarkable with the fact they lost six of their first 13 games.

Keith Curle has guided Northampton to the playoff final in his first full season in charge

During the first leg of the semi-final, however, everything went wrong for Northampton.

Ryan Watson saw a penalty saved before Charlie Raglan headed Cheltenham in front, and when Conor Thomas scored to make it 2-0 to the Gloucestershire side at the PTS Academy Stadium, it looked a long way back for the Cobblers

The Robins were in complete control, especially when you consider that Michael Duff’s side had only conceded 28 goals in 37 League Two games prior to the curtailment of the regular season.

Keith Curle’s side showed no respect to that statistic.

Within ten minutes they’d halved the deficit thanks to a powerful header from Vadaine Oliver, and they were level before the hour mark as Callum Morton diverted the ball in from close range.

How much he knew about it we may never know, but I guarantee he won’t care a bit.

It was Morton who sealed an historic comeback pouncing on a mix-up in the Cheltenham defence to tap home the winner with 13 minutes left to play.

This is a side who never know when they’re beaten.

Prediction

It’s a tough one to call, it really is.

These are two sides that enjoy the attacking aspect of the game and thrive off scoring goals, but as we see so often in occasions as iconic as a Wembley final, sometimes that’s not the way to go.

Exeter are slight favourites in part down to their higher league finish and I expect them to have the majority of possession. Law will be crucial pulling the strings in midfield with other experienced campaigners like Lee Martin likely to be crucial for Matt Taylor’s side.

Exeter beat Northampton 3-2 at St James' Park this season, while the Cobblers winning the reverse fixture 2-0

Given the way Northampton played with their backs against the wall against Cheltenham, I can see they adopting a counter-attacking style which Morton and top scorer Sam Hoskins can benefit from.

I wasn’t lying when I said this is a tough prediction to make, even when you look at the results in the regular season, the home team won on each occasion.

My head is saying Exeter’s experience of the big occasion will see them over the line, but Northampton have more than enough potential to power themselves to promotion.