By theimps.tk
May 7 2006

City have made the playoffs again so we now bring you some random stats you might not have known about the playoffs. City have become only the 3rd team to make the playoffs for 4 years in a row but what happened with the other two and is history about to repeat itself with other aspects?

Out of the 72 Football League teams, only a small handful have never competed in the playoffs, Boston, COventry, Doncaster, Oxford, MK Dons, Yeovil and Southampton are the only sides out of the 72 never to have competed in the end-of-season lottery.

All 4 of the League 2 playoff contenders have competed in the playoffs before, however, the Imps are the only ones never to have won them. Grimsby, Wycombe and Cheltenham have all had one go at the playoffs and all 3 won them.

4th is the most successful finishing position when it comes to finishing in the playoffs. Out of the 17 League 2 playoffs before this season, the team finishing 4th had made the final 13 times, winning 10 of those times. This trend has continued in recent years as Cheltenham, Bournemouth, Huddersfield and Southend all finished 4th and won in the final. The last team to win the playoffs without finishing 4th were 7th placed Blackpool, who beat Orient in the final in 2000/1.

The lowest attendance for the League 2 or equivalent playoff final was 19,486 and they were witnesses to Colchester beating Torquay 1-0 in 1997/8. Last year's final between the Imps and Southend achieved just 19,653 thanks to Southend's poor following of less than 6,500 fans, lower than most of their home games that season.

Out all the 6 semi-finals spread over the 3 divisions last season, the lower placed side went through in 5 of the semi finals. Only Southend, who finished 4th in League 2 managed to beat a side that finished lower than them. Preston beat Derby, West Ham beat Ipswich, Hartlepool beat Tranmere, Sheffield Wednesday beat Brentford and the Imps beat Macclesfield.

Only one side has ever scored in the first minute of the final. Leyton Orient's Chris Tate scored nearly straight from the kick off but he was unable to prevent his side losing 4-2 to Blackpool.

City have yet to lose on the road in the playoff semi-finals but have only won the once, a 1-0 victory at Scunthorpe. Also, the Imps have never fallen behind the away legs. City lead 2-0 at Huddersfield and 1-0 at Macclesfield but threw away both leads. City have claimed 2 wins and 1 defeat from the home legs. City have also never taken the lead in the final.

Only 2 sides before the Imps has competed in 4 consecutive playoff campaigns. Birmingham City started their run in the 1998/9 season. They drew Watford in the semi-finals, lost 1-0 at Vicarage Road but won 1-0 at St Andrews, however, the Hornets won 7-6 on penalties and went on to win promotion to the Premiership. In 1999/2000, they were beaten 4-0 at home by Barnsley but won the second leg 2-1 but it's safe to say that they didn't make the final. Another penalty shoot out denied them in 2000/1 when they beat Preston at St Andrews but lost 2-1 at Deepdale, losing 4-2 on penalties. However, in the 4th year, they finally made the final after beating Millwall 2-1 on aggregate and after a 1-1 draw, they beat Norwich 4-2 on penalties in the final to win promotion.

The other side were Ipswich. Back in 96/7, the away goals rule still counted in the playoffs and after a 1-1 draw at Sheffield United, the Blades came and drew 2-2 at Portman Road, going through on the away goals rule. In 97/8, two 1-0 defeats to Charlton in the semis saw them fail to make the final whereas Charlton won promotion. The away goals rule struck again when they lost 1-0 at Bolton, but winning 4-3 at home and that was the end to 98/9. The final campaign finally saw them win promotion and again, the opponents were Bolton, after a 2-2 draw at Bolton, Ipswich won 5-3 at home and progressed to face Barnsley and a 4-2 victory meant Premiership football returned to Portman Road for the first time in 5 years.

The least successful playoff side are Hartlepool, they have competed in the playoffs in 5 of the last 7 seasons and lost at every attempt. In Division 3 (as it was known then), they were eliminated at the semi-final stage by Darlington, Blackpool and Cheltenham before winning automatic promotion. They lost to Bristol City in the semis in their first crack at Division 2 but finally made a final last season and for a while, looked like they were destined for second tier football for the first time in their history, however, lost 4-2 to Sheffield Wednesday. They will be playing in League 2 next season, hoping for what would only be the 4th promotion in their history. Infact, they have only won 1 of their 9 playoff games and that was a 2-0 home victory over Tranmere last season.

In 1989/90, Chesterfield beat Stockport 6-0 on aggregate and 3 seasons later, Crewe beat Walsall 9-3 on aggregate. The highest scoring final came between Charlton and Sunderland in 1997/8 when the game finished 4-4 and Charlton won promotion when they won 7-6 on penalties. City's 5-2 defeat to Bournemouth is joint 2nd with 7 goals along with Bolton's 94/5 victory over Reading (4-3) and Swindon's 4-3 win over Leicester in 1993/4