Episode 8 Late Kick Off London and the South East

Recovered yet? We haven't either. Tonight we have the full range of

football emotions. The despair as Brentford come within information

of a place in the championship. is hard but as long as you are not

dead, you have to get stronger. joy.

The relief. And the pain as three of our teams battle to stay in the

league. I'm gutted. It is a bitter pill to swallow. The race for the

Premier League goes to the final day.

Joining myself tonight is a man who experienced first hand yesterday's

drama, AFC Wimbledon manager Neil Ardley. A terrible night. I have

been all right through the battle but last night was terrible. I bet

it was. We will talk about that later. We will have all the action

from that extraordinary final relegation dog fight, but nowhere

was the dividing line between success and failure stretched more

tightly an that was at Griffin park yesterday. As if Brentford's

injured goalkeeper wouldn't have been feeling nervous enough, we

sent a camera with him to see if his team plates could secure a

place in the championship. How are your nerves, ladies and

Some would have said, a win and you are up, there is a feeling there's

something about this squad, something about this year, it is a

bit special, we have fantastic owner and a fantastic manager and

we win today and it is a new era for Brentford football club. It is

probably the best score we have had, we played very well in the season.

When you are a Brentford fan, you get used to so many disappointments

in life and I hope today it will change. It is a good feeling in the

dressing room, the lads seem calm, which I am surprised at but happy

to see, days like to today no point being over-hyped. Nice calm feeling

now. Excited. The boys are looking

forward to the game, a big buzz in the dressing room. They can't wait

for 3.00. There are a few nerves, which is expected but it is a

massive game and the boys have been geed up to it all week. Come on the

Off the post from Wright Phillips. 45 minutes of this regular season

to go, can Brentford get themselves a winner, or will Doncaster Rovers

This is all getting testy now. 0-0, Doncaster Rovers know a draw will

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do them. He He scooped it over the The opportunity was there, I'm not

even playing, it is my worst moment in football, it's horrible. It's

immediate. We will pick ourselves up and go again, we have a shot at

it. That was a big shock today. Hard to take. There is no time to

feel sorry for ourselves. We go again. It is tough, teas hard, but

as long as you are not not dead, you only get stronger out of that

The play-offs on Saturday, how do they rally themselves now now

are professionals. It is horrendous for everyone at the club, but they

are the third best team in the league and they have to go into the

play-offs and prove that. Let's look at that penalty incident again.

It was highly controversial. It was awarded in the 20-year-old Fulham

loanee Trotta picked up the ball. O'Connor, the number two is the

club captain, who is the designated penalty taker. This is Trotta

scored a goal two weeks ago, against sheaf field united. He

feels confident. O'Connor hasn't scored a penalty for one-and-a-half

years. What you have to say, Trotta - Donaldson comes in now, with the

captain and says that O'Connor has to take the kick. He can see Trotta

is not moving, it takes courage to take it. He's gone against the

manager's wishes and we all know what happens. It's tragic in

football terms for Brentford because blasts against the bar. He

wasn't supposed to be taking it. There is a a break away and

Doncaster score, from this break away. If O'Connor had missed that

penalty, he missed the penalty, but Trotta stood up, and he missed.

Trotta had scored we wouldn't be having this conversation. How do

you work at it at your club in terms of the designated penalty

taker? We saw jack score that one, if you had that penalty taker

missing as a manager, you need to make sure you put that person,

confidence and say you are my penalty taking and I will back you

today. That looked a bit of a mess. It means play-offs for Brentford,

the first leg against Swindon is on Saturday. 5.20 kick-off and then

not too long for them to recover for the second leg on Bank Holiday

Griffin park didn't have a monopoly Hello, our our Division Two match

this afternoon... An invasion of south-east London.

It is the club of clubs, the brotherhood of 92, the football

league. Down in its lower reaches lay three clubs, from far flung

corners of the capital. Forced down through the sluice gate at the

bottom of league two, sent to that dark place non-league football. Who

might fall on this last Saturday? Edgar Dafydd can recall many teams,

AC Milan, Juventus Barcelona, Inter Milan, spurs, a player that sailed

amongst the stars, now scrapping in the bill dges. Barnet like

barnacles apparently at home down here, for the fourth year in a row,

fighting to stay up. The club once sent down at limbo but rose again,

would they fall again? Dagenham & Redbridge, in freefall

ever since since John Still left them for Luton in February. Wain

Burnett with vast experience as a player throughout the football

league, but suddenly a caretaker manager scrambling to avoid its

cruel sacrifice. Burnett, Ardleigh, Dafydds, united as managers on the

last Saturday when all three had to win to be certain of safety. Could

all three stay in the football league? For two, possible already

or three sheer relief, the wonder of survival. For one perhaps the

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Finds the target. Wimbledon have taken the lead!

Wimbledon have thrown away the lead moments after grabbing it!

Wimbledon just have to hang on and not throw it all away!

It's 2-0, Barnet in desperate What a strike, what a save!

Referee says that will do and at the moment Dagenham & Redbridge are

still up. There is the final whistle, Barnet

have been beaten. We are waiting on confirmation from Wimbledon

Fleetwood. The referee blows the whistle and

Wimbledon have done it. Dagenham & Redbridge are staying in

the football league. It's no secret to get three points

out of a possible 36, you give yourself a mountain to climb.

didn't know until last five minutes and someone told me Barnet were

losing with five minutes left. That is when I knew. To bounce back, it

was a penalty, we deserved that win. We needed three points, that was

our objective. If you don't, you have to face the music. It is

nearly as good as getting promoted at Wembley. No-one wants to drop

out of the football league. fans got behind us, I am buzzing.

We have to work hard again and it is a setback, but not one that we

can't overcome. We have had the longest week in my life. I have had

no sleep. I will sleep well tonight and I am delighted. We do it the

way Wimbledon do it and that is not by any stretch of the imagination

easy, it is mixed emotions when it happens. You could have heard a pin

You reckon you slept like a baby after that. How on earth did that

happen? That must have been so stressful, the entire entire day

the week. It is a really long week, after we had done a great fight

back at Gillingham, we knew it could be in our hands, we knew we

had to win and we wanted the game to come around quick. You just

managed to stay up, but you must have considered if you had gone

down it would have been a different scenario financially, what would it

have meant for your club? The club has been run sensibly over the

years, it is a fantastic club. For us to kick on and know we have Lane

in the background in the background and things like this would make a

big difference to stabilising for me, it would make a difference to

try to take it on. Relief for you Neil but for Edgar Dafydds, they

have gone to non-league. It is massive for them, moving to the

Hive. They went down on goal difference in the end, 51 points is

their best return for four seasons. It would have been enough to

survive last year. They have beaten five teams who finished in the top

seven, so they haven't had the consistency to stay up and having

flirted with it for the last three years, most people will say the

warning signs were there. You took over during the season, as did wain

Burnett and egg guard Davis -- Edgar Dafydds.

They look to them and thought it was going to be who would go down

with them and then Edgar started picking up results and playing good

football and you started thinking this team could get out of this and

there was a lot of teams in the mix at that point. Saw the relief on

Wayne Burnett's face. How do they avoid being in this position next

year? Recruitment. Wayne has been there long enough, he knows it is

going to be crucial to get the players in, to get themselves away

from the danger zone. John Steele leaving and going to Luton and they

just survived the last day, it doesn't bode well. Not for the

confidence of the fans either. He's got to recruit better in the summer

and hopefully el have a better season. He will need to find a few

more rough diamonds. The championship league programme

concludes this coming Saturday. All five of our clubs went into the

penultimate weekend with something The hornet hung on to their hope of

The goal that's got people talking was scored minutes later, a

stunning 35 yard strike from Chalabaah.

Leicester did hit back with king springing one home. Watford's win

and hull's loss means the fight for automatic promotion goes to the

last match of the season. Three goals and three red cards as

Brighton booked their play-off spot at Elland Road.

With 13 minutes gone, the home side were a goal and a man down.

Both sides were then down to ten A draw would have been all but

enough to secure Brighton's play- off place but the late winner

topped off an eventful day just a shame he couldn't get his top off.

Palace knew three points would guarantee them a place in the

playoffs and they got off to a good goal with Stephen dauby's goal.

This chip made it all square. Holloway felt the referee should

have been better positioned to see this coming together, he wanted a

penalty, his side aren't sure of a top six finish.

Millwall knew a win against Forest would end fears of relegation but

it was the play-off hopefuls who took an early lead. The visitors

continued to try their luck, including a 20 yard strike strike

and a great save. The Lions had their chances but shot wide or

field to go in. Tuesday's game against Palace is must win all

round. Cheltenham's play-off hopes were extinguished at the riverside,

despite them going ahead after 32 seconds.

They doubled their lead later. The battle back started late.

Your former club Millwall just a point above the drop zone with a

game in hand, home to palace on Tuesday. What will the manager be

saying to the players? It is a home game, Millwall is a tough place to

go and I think he will be happy that he's got these two games

coming in quick succession. They will see the home game as an

opportunity in a to put it to bed. Win that and they will be safe. In

terms of Watford, still very much alive, there's only a point in it.

Hull having lost at the weekend. Watford winning on Friday. Back-to-

back wins for Watford. Leaves them all to do. Hull take on Cardiff in

their last game and Watford are at home to Leeds, so I mean, Hull have

to get a win and they are in it but Big game for Palace on Tuesday.

Both teams need the win for different reasons. It could be

Palace against Brighton in the play-offs, oh my goodness.

Absolutely, they have themselves to blame for being in this position.

The playoffs is what it is, you have to produce your form when it

counts. The fans do not want to play Brighton and lose against

Brighton. Brighton are in good form. What have you made of Brighton this

season? Very good footballing team. Out of a lot of the teams in there,

they will be one of the ones suited to the Premier League with their

style. If they get it right in the playoffs, they will be tough.

to check on our four remaining teams now. They were playing for

Orient's season was one of nearly but not quite. This match was the

same. Despite an impressive opener from Smith they couldn't manage to

sign off with a win. The second half was just 50 seconds old when

when Oldham got their equaliser. A possible winner did fall to Cox,

he was denied by the woodwork but after a marathon season, Slade was

satisfied to see his side finish seventh.

Crawley ended an impressive campaign with a late 2-2 draw in

Barker pleased with the point that means his team finishes tenth in

the table. It was a young Gillingham side that

waved goodbye to league two with a Changes in the second half led to

Neil gifted his team the lead pulling down Sam Wood and not being

able to stop Morgan scoring from 12 It wasn't to be a fairytale ending

for the wild thing, he had the chance to get what might have been

the winning goal, but the keeper hadn't read the script. The fans

can look forward to another two years of him in charge. It would

have been a fairytale ending, but I will never be bigger than the club,

I am proud of ourselves and ready for next season, happy to be

manager taking this club forward and want success and doing what

Port Vale did today, we want to be doing it next year. Our best wishes

to him, quite a career for your former Wimbledon team-mate, 600

games, hanging up his boots, just just tell us about his career.

been brilliant. He had a lot of injuries when he was with us at

Wimbledon, but I don't think you will meet anyone in football who

knows Gareth who says he's not a great guy, wonderful guy and I wish

him all the best. How hard will it be for him to stop playing? I think

the time is right. Watching him there at the end of that game! He

is learning a lot, very few player managers, a hard job. The pressures

and all the difference things. He will concentrate fully on

management noi now and hopefully they will be in the shake-up for

promotion. Now you have made sure you are going to be in league two

next season, what happens immediately now? Recruitment, plans

for next season, make sure the players you've got know what they

are due to do. And you make sure you don't go through that again.

Absolutely. Fabulous that Gillingham have won league two this

season. What do you think made them stand apart from the rest of the

team? Mark talked about recruitment, good players in key areas, and it's

consistency. They have been the most consistent by far. Well done

to Martin Allen as well. Thank you to Neil for joining us this week.

See you next week for the last time this season. Plenty of issues to

resolve in the championship over the coming week. In leagues one and

two, the regular season is over. We will finish by saying well done to

the only one of our teams who earned the right to be called 2012,

It's a dream come true. The goals have been set, number one, there

was the promotion, it's been a fantastic achievement by the

players and staff, and the backing of the Chairman. We have a few

The players have shown they deserve They have done it! They have proved

beyond doubt they are the best team in league two this season. They are