Stockport 1 – 1 Leyton Or

Leyton Orient booked their place in the League One play-off final with a 4-1 penalty shootout win over Stockport, after the play-off semi-final ended 3-3 on aggregate.

Isaac Olaofe’s exquisite flick had cancelled out Ollie O’Neill’s opener at Edgeley Park and sent the game to extra time.

But after Jack Diamond’s penalty was saved by Orient goalkeeper Jack Keeley, and Ryan Rydel’s effort came back off the inside of the left-hand post, Ethan Galbraith stayed composed to spark jubilation in the away end.

Orient will face the winner of Thursday night’s other second leg between Charlton and Wycombe at Wembley on Sunday May 25, live on Sky Sports Football.

Home tickets for the crunch second leg sold out within 10 minutes of going on sale on May 9 – but within just three minutes of kick-off, Edgeley Park was stunned.

The hosts, momentarily, switched off, allowing Galbraith to play a clever free-kick down the right to O’Neill, who squeezed a first-time volley past Corey Addai at the near post.

Stockport looked to utilise their aerial threat to find the equaliser, but Fraser Horsfall’s luck, in particular, seemed to be out. The captain headed onto the bar, cushioned the ball for Olaofe, who headed over, then sent another header past the left-hand post, which he was visibly frustrated by.

Orient almost established a two-goal lead on the night, and on aggregate, just before the break, as Charlie Kelman met a cross from the left and steered the ball onto the underside of the crossbar with his shoulder.

Stockport were almost gifted a chance back into the game within five minutes of the restart, when goalkeeper Keeley picked up a back pass, but Jayden Fevrier’s delivery was blocked – and the hosts’ momentum dipped notably after that.

They levelled with 16 minutes of the 90 to play, when Olaofe turned Jack Diamond’s ball into his feet into the back of the net by way of exquisite flick – and should have won it, when the striker was sent clear through on goal, but hit his shot with far too much power and missed the target.

Extra time passed without incident, save for the final seconds of the second 15-minute period, when Odin Bailey was presented with a glorious chance to win it for Stockport, which cannoned off the outside of the outside of the post.

It seemed Stockport’s luck was out, which was confirmed in the shootout, extinguishing chances of back-to-back promotions and handing Orient a chance to return to the second tier for the first time since the 1992/93 campaign.

‘It felt like it was meant to be for Orient’

Sky Sports’ Jobi McAnuff:

“They were so evenly matched over the two legs. There was nothing to separate them. Having seen what that club has been through, to see Orient get to the final, huge credit to the owners.

“The players have earnt that little bit of fortune, they had to ride their luck. Stockport missed some big opportunities. Sometimes there is just a feeling that it’s meant to be and it felt like that for Orient.”

Sky Sports’ Lee Hendrie:

“Dave Challinor and his Stockport side were brilliant. Really, really good. Stockport have to go again and believe they have the quality.

“What an unbelievable two legs we’ve had. The way Orient approached the second leg, they did absolutely everything. Credit to Richie Wellens, Orient and all their travelling fans. We’ve seen two very good teams in League One.

“I said the play-off winner would come out of this tie.”

Wellens: We knew it would go long – but didn’t practice penalties

Leyton Orient’s Richie Wellens on Sky Sports Football:

“When you go to penalties, it’s a lottery, but it’s our fourth time this year. I spoke to the players just before we took the penalties. I said have faith in your goalkeeper, he’s one of the best I’ve ever seen at penalties, trust that he will save a few.

“Then the players that are taking penalties, if ever you feel that moment of doubt, slow your breathing down, make sure you concentrate on your technique and hit the target where you want to hit. After such a long night, I thought we executed our penalties really well.

“We primed them; we said this is not going to be a 90-minute game, it might be 120, it might be even longer. We didn’t practice because you can’t replicate it, and we’ve had enough practice this year in the cups, so I’m proud of the group.

“I thought we were a little bit naïve at times in our play, in fact very naïve, but we’ve got a lot of young players and if they want to get to where they believe and where they should get to in time, they have to go through nights like this, and they have to get through nights like this when it’s not going all their own way, and they have to show the resilience, they’ve got the ability and they will grow.

“As a player I got nervous, because I know where I wanted to get to, but again, I think I can manage at a higher level than this, and if I want to, I have to go through nights like this, with younger players, and try and keep cool at times. It’s really hard in the heat of the moment and it got chaotic at times.

“You can tell by my voice I’m shattered. We need a few days off. I’ll probably go to the game tomorrow and we’ll try and win at the best stadium in the world.”

Challinor: We had two chances to achieve our Sunderland moment

Stockport’s Dave Challinor on Sky Sports Football:

“Of course it’s tough, especially the manner in which you end up losing the game, on penalties. I’m super proud of what we’ve done. I think you saw in the game last night (Sunderland vs Coventry) that moments can decide.

“We’ll be disappointed with the goal we conceded early in the game, which is a sloppy one from us, but we’ve had the two big moments in the 91st minute and 120th minute where we have to take one of those chances and we have our Sunderland moment.

“Whether that then is a bit of a hangover going to the penalties, I’m not sure, but anything can happen in that. Based on the last three weeks and watching us take penalties, I’d back us, but this is a unique situation that you have to put yourselves in to be able to go and step up – and credit to Leyton Orient, they’ve scored all four of theirs.

“Unfortunately we’ve not progressed, which we’re disappointed about, but like I said to the players, right at the very end, no one’s to blame. We’ve done brilliantly to be in this situation and have got so close.

“Of course, it’s a bitter one to swallow because we can all think we deserve to do this or deserve to do that, but ultimately we haven’t, so we dust ourselves down. The league starts a week earlier for us, a short break, but we’ll be back at it next season.

On whether he will wonder what might have been had Kelman’s first goal in the first leg been ruled out for offside: “No, because what’s the point? If I continue to do that for the rest of my life, I’ll end up in a really, really bad place. We’ve moved on from that. Things will happen outside our control to deal with. Hopefully that situation never happens again.”