Manchester United legend Gary Neville has congratulated Notts County on their promotion back to the EFL.
The Magpies sealed their return to the Football League after a four-year absence by beating Chesterfield on penalties in the National League play-off final at Wembley on Saturday. The sides had been locked at 2-2 after extra-time before Luke Williams' side edged it on spot kicks in dramatic style.
Substitute goalkeeper Archie Mair, on loan from Norwich City and sent on in the final minute of extra time for the spot-kick contest, denied Darren Oldaker and Jeff King with full-length saves as Notts won 4-3 on penalties. Macaulay Langstaff, Ruben Rodrigues, Jodi Jones and Cedwyn Scott were successful from the spot for the Magpies, the latter achieving redemption having missed from 12 yards in the promotion showdown with Wrexham last month.
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Andrew Dallas’ early penalty seemed set to signal more end-of-season misery for County before John Bostock equalised with just two minutes left on the clock. Paul Cook’s Chesterfield quickly regained the lead in extra time with Armando Dobra’s superb curling effort, but Rodrigues’ equaliser 12 minutes from time sent the game to penalties.
It was promotion delight at last for Notts, who were relegated from the EFL in 2019 and have contested the National League play-offs in every campaign since. Williams’ side had finished 23 points clear of Chesterfield at the end of a regular season in which they had pushed champions Wrexham all the way.
Wrexham's famous co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney were quick to pay tribute to the Magpies on social media, and were joined by Neville. The former England defender and Sky Sports pundit is co-owner of Salford City, who won the National League play-off final in 2019.
In response to a post from Notts' official Twitter account celebrating their promotion, Neville simply replied: "Congratulations" - along with a partying face emoji.
Salford were in League Two play-off action themselves on Saturday, beating Stockport County 1-0 in the first leg of their semi-final at the Peninsula Stadium.
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