A dramatic end to the last round of League Two. Bristol Rovers secure direct promotion with 7-0 win

Bristol Rovers stole the last direct promotion spot from League Two in a truly incredible fashion, beating Scunthorpe 7-0. Rovers only managed to push Northampton into fourth place thanks to a better scoreline.

Back on Friday, everyone might have thought that Northampton had promotion to the English League Three in their own hands. Before the start of the last round, the Cobblers were in third place, guaranteeing certain promotion. Together with Bristol, they had the same number of points but a five-goal better record. This would normally mean that Northampton only needed a win over Barrow.

First half still in Northampton’s favour

Northampton led for most of the afternoon and looked like they would easily secure promotion as they were already 3-0 up after 22 minutes after two goals from Hoskins and one from Horsfall. Josh Kay reduced it to 3:1 at the end of the first half.

This victory looked like more than enough as Bristol Rovers were only 2: 0 up at the break against Scunthorpe when Lobley scored an own goal and a few minutes later Taylor scored. Rovers still needed 5 goals in just 45 minutes.

Bristol in “seventh heaven”

The Cobblers kept the match under wraps, but they didn’t seem to know what was going on at the Memorial Stadium.

In the 53rd minute, Collins broke through from just outside the penalty area and nine minutes later Anthony Evans did the same.

Evans’ brilliant straightforward strike in the 76th minute gave the home side hope that the unthinkable could become a reality, and that was increased when Collins arrived in the empty seconds later.

Anderson sparked an explosion in the stands when he headed home in the 85th minute to make it 7-0. At this point Bristol and Northampton had an equal goal difference, but Rovers had scored 11 more. The fans couldn’t contain themselves at this point and ran onto the pitch en masse. Which led to referee Breakspear stopping play.

After a 16 minute break the players returned to finish the game, Rovers held the lead and celebrated their progress.

Northampton will therefore still have to fight for promotion. They will face Mansfield in their first barrier match. And if they do, they will play the winner of Port Vale/Swindon in the final.

Source: Twitter, The Guardian