League One
Leeds United 2-1 Bristol Rovers
Saturday May 8, Elland Road, (Att: 38,234)
Leeds secured promotion to the Championship after coming from behind - despite being down to ten men - to beat Bristol Rovers on a dramatic final day in League One.
Knowing a win would secure them promotion, the home side were unsurprisingly tense. However, they began to assert themselves and were denied a goal from Jermaine Beckford after their top scorer was adjudged to be offside.
However, inflamed at the decision, United's Max Gradel was sent off after stamping on the foot of Rovers's Daniel Jones.
At half time results elsewhere ensured that Leeds were still going up. However, their hopes were quickly dashed when the Gas took a shock lead early in the second period.
A cross from Jones was knocked back and Daryl Duffy was on hand to crash the ball past Shane Higgs in the Leeds goal.
Stunned, and heading into the play-offs, Simon Grayson's side responded, and substitute Jonny Howson pulled them level nine minutes later. The midfielder curling home a delightful shot from the edge of the area.
With Millwall winning, they had to find another, and four minutes later Elland Road had erupted. A poor throw out by visiting keeper Mikkel Andersen put the Pirates under pressure.
The crossed ball in broke to Beckford who capitalised on a mix-up in the backline to poke home a second for Leeds.
Knowing they had what they needed, they began to sit back and soak up any attacks Rovers could muster. However, they could have wrapped things up late on when Leigh Bromby's header struck a post.
It wasn't to matter, as the final whistle was shortly blown sparking a pitch invasion and mass celebrations in West Yorkshire as Leeds ended their three year spell in League One.
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