Grimsby Town have booked their place in the National League playoff final, beating Wrexham 5-4 after extra time in an extraordinary semi-final on Saturday.
Former Wrexham player Luke Waterfall headed the winner with one minute of extra time to play, leaving the home crowd stunned. After ending the Welsh side’s promotion dream, Grimsby will face Solihull Moors in the final at the London Stadium on Sunday 5 June.
In the first half of normal time, Wrexham took the lead when Waterfall brought down Paul Mullin in the penalty area, with the striker getting up to convert the penalty kick. Grimsby hit back immediately, John McAtee producing a superb long-range finish as they went to the break level.
Waterfall headed the visitors in front early in the second half, but Wrexham struck back with two goals in the space of a minute. Luke Tozer headed home a corner, before Mullin scored from Ollie Palmer’s flick – with replays appearing to show the forward handling the ball over the line.
Grimsby rallied again through Ryan Taylor’s equaliser, before Mani Dieseruvwe followed up his late winner against Notts County in the quarter-final with a 78th-minute strike. Wrexham found another leveller just two minutes later, Jordan Davies heading home to set up extra-time.
On Sunday, Solihull Moors fought back to beat Chesterfield 3-1 and book their place in the final. Joe Quigley fired the visitors in front but the hosts led at half-time through goals from top scorer Andrew Dallas and defender Alex Gudger.
In the second half, Calvin Miller missed a golden opportunity to level for Chesterfield and moments later, Callum Howe’s header wrapped up the win amid jubilant scenes at Solihull’s Damson Park home.
“I know Grimsby fans will say they deserve it, we’re both in the final, but I do believe these guys do deserve to go up,” said the Solihull Moors manager, Neal Ardley. “We’ve never been in the league, it would be remarkable for us and we’ve got 90 minutes to have a go.”
