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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Marc Mayo

VAR rescues Crawley from penalty scare to help beat Crewe in League Two play-off final

Crawley earned promotion to League One after defeating Crewe Alexandra in the League Two play-off final on Sunday.

Having finished seventh in the table, the Red Devils smashed MK Dons in the semis to book their first-ever trip to Wembley and it proved to be a memorable one.

Danilo Orsi stabbed a shot into the bottom corner to hand them the lead after 41 minutes.

Crewe thought they were in with a chance to level up shortly after the break when Chris Long tumbled while rounding goalkeeper Corey Addai. However, VAR, introduced to the fourth tier solely for the play-off final, spotted that Long had dived.

Liam Kelly made it 2-0 late on with a quick-thinking rebound to seal the win as Crawley joined Mansfield, Wrexham and Stockport in moving up to League One for next season.

“I don't think there are any words to describe it,” said goalscorer Orsi.

“We were underdogs at the start of the season and to finally come away to say we've won the play-offs is an amazing feeling.

“I've had a good season this year and it's thanks to the coaches and the rest of the players. We play football like that everyday, all day.

“The manager and the players have given me so much confidence and to top it off with a play-off win, I couldn't imagine.”

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