Background

This was Swansea's first Championship play-off final, although they had lost in the third-tier final in 2006 on penalties to Barnsley at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.^[7][8] Reading had lost the 1995 Football League First Division play-off final against Bolton Wanderers at the old Wembley Stadium, and had failed to qualify for the final, losing out in the 2003 and 2009 play-off semi-finals.^[7] During the regular season, Swansea beat Reading both home and away, 1–0 on each occasion.^[9] Long was Reading's top scorer with 21 goals while Scott Sinclair led the scoring charts for Swansea with 19.^[10] The referee for the final was Phil Dowd, with assistant referees Scott Ledger and Simon Long, with Lee Mason acting as the fourth official.^[11]

The 2011 UEFA Champions League Final was scheduled to be held at Wembley Stadium on 28 May 2011, so alternative venues for all of the 2011 play-off finals were considered. Manchester United's Old Trafford had been confirmed as a possible alternative, while Arsenal's Emirates Stadium and the Millennium Stadium were also said to have been under consideration to host the play-off finals.^[12] It was subsequently confirmed that Wembley would host the Championship play-off final on 30 May, two days after the Champions League final, while Old Trafford would host the League One and League Two finals on 28 and 29 May respectively.^[13] Accountancy firm Deloitte calculated that the Championship play-off final would again be worth about £90 million to the winner, including more than £40 million of higher broadcast income, gate receipts and commercial income in the 2011–12 Premier League.^[14] Reading were looking to return to the Premier League after a three-year absence while Swansea had last played in England's top-flight in the 1982–83 season. A victory for them would have made them the first Welsh team to participate in the Premier League since its establishment in the 1992–93 season.^[14]

Jimmy Kébé returned to the Reading starting line-up having recovered from injury, with Shaun Cummings dropping to the bench.^[15] Kébé had scored nine goals and made seven assists, but a thigh injury had kept him out of the last six games.^[16] Swansea's starting eleven were unchanged from the team that had won the second semi-final leg against Nottingham Forest.^[15]

First half

Reading kicked the game off around 3 p.m. in front of a Wembley crowd of 86,581. Kébé's early cross was dropped by the Swansea goalkeeper Dorus de Vries but was cleared by his defenders. Sinclair was then fouled, but the resulting free kick was struck high and wide of Adam Federici's goal by Fabio Borini. In the eighth minute, a foul on Sinclair by Andy Griffin saw him receive the first booking of the game from the referee Phil Dowd. Four minutes later, both Borini and Zurab Khizanishvili were also booked, this time for an altercation. In the 18th minute, a Jem Karacan attempt was deflected and three minutes later, Khizanishvili's challenge on Nathan Dyer in the box was deemed a foul. A penalty was awarded to Swansea which was scored by Sinclair. Immediately after the restart, Dobbie made a run down the right and passed to Sinclair, whose shot went in at the far post despite Federici getting a hand on it, making the score 2–0 after 22 minutes. Mills' shot for Reading was blocked and soon after a McAnuff corner was headed off-target by Noel Hunt. With about ten minutes of the half remaining, Sinclair passed to Borini, whose shot on the turn was defended by Mills. After a period of possession for Swansea, Reading had two corners with no end product before McAnuff was booked for a foul on Britton in the 39th minute. Within a minute, Swansea extended their lead to 3–0 – Khizanishvili failed to deal with Dyer's cross and Dobbie side-footed the ball past Federici. In the final minute of half, MacAnuff's cross was struck wide of an empty net from seven yards by Long. Into stoppage time, Mikele Leigertwood's shot from 22 yards was palmed down by de Vries, before Dowd brought the half to a close, with Swansea leading 3–0 at the break.^[15]

Second half

During the half-time interval, Dowd sent off Reading's Jay Tabb and their assistant manager Nigel Gibbs for abuse, disallowing them from watching the second half from the dug-out.^[15][17][18] Karacan's effort early in the second half was blocked before Reading were awarded a corner in the third minute. Hunt's header at the near post from McAnuff's cross was headed into his own net by the Swansea's Joe Allen, making it 3–1. Four minutes later, Allen was booked for a foul on Leigertwood, picking up the fifth yellow card of the game. Dobbie then struck wide with only the goalkeeper to beat before Mills scored from another McAnuff corner, reducing Reading's deficit to a single goal. Two minutes later, Karacan's strike hit the post and Garry Monk's block prevented Hunt from finishing the rebound. Each side made a substitution with around 15 minutes remaining, Simon Church replacing Hunt and Swansea's Mark Gower on for Britton. In the 80th minute, Swansea extended their lead with another Sinclair penalty, following a Griffin foul on Borini in the box.^[15] The strike completed Sinclair's hat-trick, just the second in play-off final history after Clive Mendonca's treble for Charlton Athletic against Sunderland in the 1998 Football League First Division play-off final.^[19] With six minutes remaining, Robson-Kanu came on for Griffin. Swansea retained possession and limited Reading's chances, and made their final substitution, Luke Moore coming on for Allen in the final moments of the game. Four minutes of additional time were indicated, in the last of which an unmarked Leigertwood headed over from a corner. The match ended 4–2 to Swansea who were promoted to the Premier League.^[15]

Details

More information Reading, 2–4 ...

Reading	2–4	Swansea City
Allen 49' (o.g.) Mills 57'	Report	Sinclair 21' (pen.), 22', 80' (pen.) Dobbie 40'

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Reading

Swansea City

GK 1 Adam Federici RB 2 Andy Griffin  8'  84' CB 5 Matt Mills (c) CB 15 Zurab Khizanishvili  12' LB 23 Ian Harte CM 4 Jem Karacan CM 8 Mikele Leigertwood RW 14 Jimmy Kébé LW 11 Jobi McAnuff  39' CF 9 Shane Long CF 10 Noel Hunt  76' Substitutes: GK 41 Alex McCarthy DF 24 Shaun Cummings DF 26 Alex Pearce MF 7 Jay Tabb MF 19 Hal Robson-Kanu  84' MF 20 Brian Howard FW 18 Simon Church  76' Manager: Brian McDermott

GK 1 Dorus de Vries RB 22 Àngel Rangel CB 16 Garry Monk (c) CB 2 Ashley Williams LB 5 Alan Tate CM 37 Leon Britton  77' CM 24 Joe Allen  54'  89' RW 12 Nathan Dyer AM 14 Stephen Dobbie  55' LW 21 Scott Sinclair CF 15 Fabio Borini  12' Substitutes: GK 25 Yves Ma-Kalambay DF 17 Albert Serrán MF 8 Darren Pratley  55' MF 27 Mark Gower  82'  77' MF 29 Jazz Richards FW 9 Craig Beattie FW 19 Luke Moore  89' Manager: Brendan Rodgers

Statistics