The 2011 Football League One play-off final was an association football match which was played on 29 May 2011 at Old Trafford in Manchester, between Huddersfield Town and Peterborough United, to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from Football League One to the Football League Championship. The top two teams of the 2010–11 Football League One season, Brighton & Hove Albion and Southampton, gained automatic promotion to the Championship, while the teams placed from third to sixth position took part in play-offs. The winners of the play-off semi-finals competed for the final place for the 2011–12 season in the Championship. AFC Bournemouth and Milton Keynes Dons were the defeated semi-finalists, losing to Huddersfield Town and Peterborough United respectively.

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2011 Football League One play-off final

Old Trafford
Event	2010–11 Football League One
Huddersfield Town Peterborough United 0 3
Date	29 May 2011
Venue	Old Trafford, Manchester
Referee	Steve Tanner
Attendance	48,410
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Steve Tanner was the referee for the match, which was played in front of 48,410 spectators. Craig Mackail-Smith, League One's leading scorer, went close for Peterborough on several occasions in the first half but it ended goalless. In the 78th minute, Peterborough took the lead as Tommy Rowe headed Grant McCann's free-kick into the Huddersfield net. Mackail-Smith doubled Peterborough's lead within two minutes, his shot deflecting into the goal off Antony Kay. With five minutes remaining, McCann increased the lead with a long-range strike to give Peterborough a 3–0 victory and promotion to the Championship.

Peterborough United ended their next season in 18th place in the Championship, four places and ten points above the relegation zone. Huddersfield Town finished their following season in fourth position in League One and qualified for the 2012 Football League play-offs where they met Sheffield United in the final and won promotion to the Championship after a penalty shootout.

Huddersfield Town finished the regular 2010–11 season in third place in Football League One, the third tier of the English football league system, one place and eight points ahead of Peterborough United. Both therefore missed out on the two automatic places for promotion to the Football League Championship and instead took part in the play-offs to determine the third promoted team. Huddersfield Town finished five points behind Southampton (who were promoted in second place) and eight behind league winners Brighton & Hove Albion.^[1]

Peterborough United's opponents for their play-off semi-final were Milton Keynes Dons with the first match of the two-legged tie taking place at Stadium MK in Milton Keynes on 15 May 2011. Craig Mackail-Smith gave the visitors the lead in the 8th minute, scoring after MK Dons goalkeeper David Martin pushed away a strike from Nathaniel Mendez-Laing. In the 47th minute, Daniel Powell levelled the score from close range after a defensive error from Tommy Rowe and three minutes later MK Dons went ahead 2–1 after Sam Baldock's free-kick went through the wall into the Peterborough net. Ángelo Balanta made it 3–1 in the 56th minute after beating Peterborough goalkeeper Paul Jones at the near post. Charlie Lee was then sent off for Peterborough after receiving two yellow cards, the second for a foul on Powell. With nine minutes remaining, Stephen Gleeson was also sent off, for a foul on Mark Little, and Grant McCann converted the subsequent penalty to make the final score 3–2 to MK Dons.^[3][4] The second leg was held four days later at London Road in Peterborough. McCann scored in the 11th minute from a free-kick to put Peterborough into the lead before Mackail-Smith's close-range strike made it 2–0 and sent his side to the final with a 4–3 aggregate victory.^[5][6]

Huddersfield Town faced AFC Bournemouth in the other semi-final; the first leg was played at Dean Court in Bournemouth on 14 May 2011. Midway through the first half, Kevin Kilbane put the visitors ahead with a header from Gary Roberts' cross. Soon after, Rhoys Wiggins was fouled by Huddersfield goalkeeper Ian Bennett, who conceded a penalty. Danny Ings took the spot-kick but Bennett dived to his right to make the save. In the 60th minute, Donal McDermott scored with a shot from around 25 yards (23 metres) to level the match, which ended 1–1.^[7][8] The second leg took place four days later at the Galpharm Stadium in Huddersfield. Lee Peltier gave Huddersfield the lead on 26 minutes from a Roberts corner, but Steve Lovell equalised just before half-time from the penalty spot after Adam Smith was fouled in the Huddersfield penalty area. Danny Ward restored the home side's lead just before half-time with a strike past Bournemouth's goalkeeper Shwan Jalal. Midway through the second half, McDermott's pass found Lovell who rounded Bennett and scored to make it 2–2. With the aggregate score 3–3 at the final whistle, the match went into extra time. Ings scored for Bournemouth from a Marc Pugh cross in the 104th minute but Antony Kay equalised almost immediately with a header from a Roberts corner. Midway through the second period of additional time, Jason Pearce was shown the red card for a foul. The match ended 3–3, and with the scores level at 4–4 on aggregate, a penalty shootout was required to determine who would progress. Michael Symes and Lee Novak scored the opening penalties for Bournemouth and Huddersfield respectively but Liam Feeney's spot-kick was saved by Bennett. Ward made it 2–1 to Huddersfield before Anton Robinson missed his penalty. Kilbane and Shaun Cooper then scored for Huddersfield and Bournemouth respectively, but Kay scored the decider and Huddersfield won the shootout 4–2, progressing to the final.^[9][10]

Darren Ferguson, the Peterborough manager, was quick to praise his chairman, Darragh MacAnthony, noting "he's spent money, had a right go and had the bottle to get me back at the club".^[22] He also noted that his father, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, had not been present at the final, calling him a "jinx" and jokingly attributing Peterborough's semi-final first-leg loss to MK Dons to him.^[22] The Huddersfield manager Lee Clark said that the final score did not tell the whole story of the match: "It was just a crazy eight, ten minutes. For the first half-hour of the second half we dominated, but they had a set-piece expert ... I'm hurting for the owner, for the fantastic supporters".^[22]

Peterborough United ended their next season in 18th place in the Championship, four places and ten points above the relegation zone.^[24] Huddersfield Town finished their following season in fourth position in League One and qualified for the 2012 Football League play-offs where they met Sheffield United in the final, winning promotion to the Championship after a penalty shootout.^[25][26]