Palace and Sunderland claim under-23 play-off places
Premier League 2 came to an end three days ago with the two final games being played in Division 1 and three games in Division 2 and with the crucial game coming in Division 2 between Stoke and Sunderland.
Middlesbrough had looked certain to end the season in the play-off positions. They went into their final two games on the back of a six game unbeaten run and faced Crystal Palace in both games. They were beaten 3-2 a week last Monday at Palace and then saw the London club do the double over them last Friday with a 1-0 win at Bishop Auckland’s Heritage Park.
That result ended our chances of extending the season with Palace moving into the play-off positions but Middlesbrough also dropped out on Monday this week when Sunderland secured the final place with a 1-1 home draw against second place Stoke.
It’s been a close finish though for those positions. Leeds have run away with the title while Stoke are nine points clear of third in second place but it’s then Palace and Wolves with 36 points, Sunderland with 35 followed by Middlesbrough and ourselves with 34 points. We’ve finished seventh but one more win would have seen us in third place.
There was also a significant result at the bottom on Monday. West Brom beat Norwich 3-0 to move off the bottom of the table. Both of those teams have finished on 25 points as have Newcastle who claim last place because of their poorer goal difference.
We will be playing Leicester and Southampton next season in Division 2. Southampton have finished bottom of Division 1 with 16 points with Leicester six points and one place ahead of them. Manchester City had already won the league but it was between three teams for second place. Chelsea, who kicked off the week in second place, beat fourth place Blackburn while Spurs, who were third, took a hammering at home against Manchester City.
The result of that game was 6-1 with City’s Liam Delap scoring a hat trick to take his total number of goals this season to 24. That’s 11 more than any other player with his Manchester City team mate coming second in the Division 1 scoring chart with 13. In Division 2, Louie Barry (Aston Villa) and Josh Hawkes (Sunderland) both ended the season with 13 goals. Seven of Hawkes’ goals have been scored in Sunderland’s final seven games that have seen them move up from the bottom of the league.
Max Thompson was our leading goalscorer with eleven league goals and that is some achievement given he’s played much of the season in a wide midfield position. Rightly, he is the player photographed in this review.
The two play-off semi-finals will be played next Monday, 17th May, both kicking off at 7 p.m. The games will be played at Selhurst Park and the bet365 Stadium.
The final League Tables and our Fixtures and Results are both within U23/U18 Stats which can be found on the top menu.
The final results, this week’s fixtures, the leading goalscorers, our goalscorers and the final league tables are also shown below.
FINAL LEAGUE RESULTS
Division 1
Friday 7th May
Blackburn 2 Chelsea 4
Everton 4 Southampton 0
Tottenham 1 Manchester City 6
West Ham 2 Arsenal 2
Monday 10th May
Leicester 0 Liverpool 2
Manchester United 1 Derby 3
Division 2
Friday 7th May
Middlesbrough 0 Crystal Palace 1
Newcastle 1 Aston Villa 2
Monday 10th May
Sunderland 1 Stoke 1
West Brom 3 Norwich 2
Wolves 2 Reading 2
PLAY-OFF FIXTURES
Monday 17th May
Crystal Palace v Wolves
Stoke v Sunderland
LEADING GOALSCORERS
Division 1
24: Liam Delap (Manchester City)
13: Cole Palmer (Manchester City)
12: Connor McBride (Blackburn)
11: Nathan Broadhead (Everton), Cameron Cresswell (Derby)
10: Joe Hugill (Manchester United), Felix Nmecha (Manchester City), Ademipo Odubeko (West Ham), Shola Shoretire (Manchester United)
9: Folarin Balogun (Arsenal), Anthony Elanga (Manchester United), Kion Etete (Tottenham), Jacob Wakeling (Leicester)
Division 2
13: Louie Barry (Aston Villa), Josh Hawkes (Sunderland)
12: Sam Greenwood (Leeds)
11: Fabio Carvalho (Fulham), Joe Gelhardt (Leeds), Max Thompson (Burnley)
10: Femi Azeez (Reading), Aaron Ramsey (Aston Villa), Jean-Pierre Tiehi (Fulham)
9: Ethan Varian (Stoke)
8: Sylvester Jasper (Fulham), Joel Mumbongo (Burnley)
BURNLEY’S GOALSCORERS
11: Max Thompson
8: Joel Mumbongo
6: Lewis Richardson
3: Anthony Gomez Mancini
2: Ashley Barnes, Rob Harker, Ryan Viggars
1: Dara Costelloe, Owen Dodgson, Richard Nartey, own goals
FINAL LEAGUE TABLES
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Manchester City | 24 | 17 | 5 | 2 | 79 | 30 | 56 |
| Chelsea | 24 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 50 | 36 | 42 |
| Tottenham | 24 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 45 | 44 | 38 |
| Blackburn | 24 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 48 | 41 | 37 |
| Everton | 24 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 44 | 28 | 36 |
| Derby | 24 | 11 | 3 | 10 | 43 | 49 | 36 |
| Liverpool | 24 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 48 | 50 | 35 |
| Manchester United | 24 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 58 | 59 | 34 |
| Brighton | 24 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 36 | 42 | 30 |
| Arsenal | 24 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 37 | 43 | 26 |
| West Ham | 24 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 32 | 48 | 24 |
| Leicester | 24 | 6 | 4 | 14 | 41 | 55 | 22 |
| Southampton | 24 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 29 | 65 | 16 |
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Leeds | 24 | 18 | 2 | 4 | 62 | 29 | 56 |
| Stoke | 24 | 14 | 3 | 7 | 41 | 30 | 45 |
| Crystal Palace | 24 | 11 | 3 | 10 | 45 | 41 | 36 |
| Wolves | 24 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 40 | 36 | 36 |
| Sunderland | 24 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 42 | 41 | 35 |
| Middlesbrough | 24 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 44 | 35 | 34 |
| Burnley | 24 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 38 | 41 | 34 |
| Reading | 24 | 10 | 2 | 12 | 41 | 54 | 32 |
| Aston Villa | 24 | 9 | 4 | 11 | 46 | 48 | 31 |
| Fulham | 24 | 9 | 3 | 12 | 38 | 46 | 27 |
| Norwich | 24 | 7 | 4 | 13 | 32 | 40 | 25 |
| West Brom | 24 | 7 | 4 | 13 | 37 | 49 | 25 |
| Newcastle | 24 | 7 | 4 | 13 | 31 | 47 | 25 |
Share this page :