League Two line-up for 2025-26 season confirmed as Latics secure promotion
Big moment - Oldham Athletic's James Norwood celebrates scoring their side's second goal of the game during the Vanarama National League play-off final against Southend (Image: Adam Davy/PA Wire)
ON-LOAN Colchester United defender Ben Goodliffe suffered Wembley heartache after Southend United were beaten 3-2 by Oldham Athletic in the National League play-off final this afternoon.
It looked as though the Shrimpers would be returning to League Two after they went 2-1 up in extra-time but two quickfire goals secured the Latics promotion back to the EFL, after a three-year absence.
Advertisement
It was a dramatic match with plenty of twists and turns throughout.
In front of a record crowd of 52,115 at Wembley, substitutes James Norwood and Kian Harratt scored within the space of two minutes after Leon Chambers-Parillon had restored Southend's lead just seconds into extra time.
An early own-goal from Manny Monthe had given the Shrimpers the lead, but was cancelled out by Joe Garner's penalty after Monthe had been brought down in the area.
Oldham boss Micky Mellon unsurprisingly named the same starting XI which won 3-0 against York in the semi-final, only to see his side concede their first goal of the play-offs with just four minutes on the clock.
Advertisement
Gus Scott-Morriss pounced on a loose pass in midfield and chipped the ball into the area for Charley Kendall to chase and his presence was enough to pressure the unfortunate Monthe to loft the ball over his own goalkeeper.
Garner came close to an equaliser when his header from Tom Pett's corner came back off the post and Oldham felt they should have had a penalty when Mike Fondop went down in the area under a challenge from Harry Taylor.
Taylor did not appear to get much of the ball but referee Elliot Bell waved away the appeals and the Oldham fans suffered more frustration in the last minute of the half as Fondop missed a golden chance to equalise.
Advertisement
A defensive clearance was charged down and left Fondop through on goal, but after clipping the ball over goalkeeper Nick Hayes he could only look on as it drifted agonisingly wide of the post.
It took less than a minute of the second half for Oldham to finally get back on level terms, Garner calmly scoring from the penalty spot after Monthe had been brought down in the area.
Neither side was able to find a winner in normal time but Southend regained the lead just seconds into extra-time, goalkeeper Mathew Hudson parrying a deflected cross from Scott-Morriss straight on to the head of substitute Chambers-Parillon to head into the empty net.
Advertisement
Oldham refused to throw in the towel and Norwood got them back on level terms for the second time when he latched on to a long ball through the middle and took a deft touch around Hayes before slotting the ball into an empty net.
And just two minutes later Oldham grabbed the winner as Harratt's curling cross evaded everyone in the area before nestling into the far corner to send the Latics fans wild.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Sports quiz of the week: Champions League, French Open and Giro d'Italia
PSG wrapped up a treble on Saturday night when they hammered Inter in the Champions League final. Who were the first European team to win a treble? Ajax Celtic Manchester United Bayern Munich Désiré Doué was substituted a few minutes after he scored his second goal for PSG in their 5-0 win, so did not have a chance to complete his hat-trick. There have only been four hat-tricks in European Cup finals. Who scored two of them? Eusébio Gerd Müller Alfredo Di Stéfano Ferenc Puskás Iga Swiatek's run of 26 wins in a row at the French Open came to an end this week when she was beaten by Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals. If Swiatek is the queen of clay, Rafa Nadal was the king. He played 116 matches at the French Open. How many did he lose? Two Four Six Eight Loïs Boisson also reached the semi-finals, an incredible achievement given it was the first grand slam of her career. Which other player reached the French Open semi-finals in her first slam, doing so at 14 years old? Clue: she would later win the French Open (as well as two Australian Open titles and an Olympic gold medal). Jennifer Capriati Chris Evert Sue Barker Mary Pierce England are playing Andorra in a World Cup qualifier on Saturday. The game is not being held in Andorra but at the Estadi Cornellà-El Prat – the home of which club? Toulouse Girona Real Zaragoza Espanyol How has Thomas Tuchel adapted England training so his players will be ready for the World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico next year? The staff at St George's Park have been told to speak to players in American accents Tuchel has insisted his players must tip hotel staff by at least 20% Players have to drive to training on the right side of the road to mimic US conditions They are training in heated tents Australia and South Africa are preparing to meet in the World Test Championship final this coming week. Which country is hosting the final (having also hosted the 2021 and 2023 finals)? India England New Zealand Bangladesh On the subject of cricket, England players got stuck in traffic and were nearly late for their match against West Indies at the Oval. How did the captain, Harry Brook, and a few others get to the ground? Local police took them by horseback They jumped off the team bus and into black cabs They were given a helicopter ride by the ambulance service They took Lime bikes Which two countries have qualified for the World Cup next summer, having never played in the tournament before? East Timor and Malaysia Uzbekistan and Jordan Cape Verde and Tonga Mauritius and Jamaica Simon Yates won the Giro d'Italia on Sunday. There are 21 stages in the race. How many of them did he win? None Two Six Ten Which rugby league team were beaten finalists in the Challenge Cup last year but have another chance to win the trophy at Wembley on Saturday? Hull Kingston Rovers Warrington Wolves St Helens Hull FC Epsom hosts the Derby on Saturday afternoon. Which piece of equipment did the organisers borrow from another sport this week for the race? The chequered flag used for F1 races at Silverstone The starting blocks from Romford Greyhound Stadium The balls from the FA Cup draw The hooter used at the London Olympics in 2012 Why is the race called the Derby? When the race began in 1780, it was held in Derbyshire rather than Surrey It started out as a race between two horses that shared the same field The race was sponsored by the 12th Earl of Derby Epsom took the idea from the Kentucky Derby in the US Vasiliy Lomachenko has retired from boxing at the age of 37. The Ukrainian won two Olympic gold medals and world titles at three weights. In the amateur ranks, he had 397 fights. How many of them did he lose? None One Six Nine Max Verstappen crashed into a Mercedes car at the Spanish Grand Prix, which led the boss of the Mercedes team, Toto Wolff, to compare his driving to … '… a kid playing mariokart' '… taxi drivers in Naples and Rome' '… a teenager with L plates ' '… a Formula Three driver' Solutions 1:B - There have been 11 treble winning teams: Celtic in 1967, Ajax in 1972, PSV Eindhoven in 1988, Manchester United in 1999, Barcelona in 2009 and 2015, Inter in 2010, Bayern Munich in 2013 and 2020, Manchester City in 2023 and PSG in 2025., 2:D - No one has scored a hat-trick in a European Cup final since the 1960s., 3:B - Nadal won the event 14 times and his win-loss record went from 31–0 to 70–1, 105–2 and 112–3, before finishing at 112–4. , 4:A - Capriati's career was up and down to say the least. She reached the French Open semi-finals at 14, was arrested on shoplifting and marijuana charges later in her teens, and returned to tennis and won three grand slams. , 5:D - England are playing twice in the next week: against Andorra in Spain and against Senegal in a friendly at the City Ground in Nottingham., 6:D - 'I have done pre-season in Orlando and I will be very surprised if we do not suffer,' said Tuchel. 'Suffering is one of the headlines for this World Cup.' Sounds fun., 7:B - The 2021 final was at the Rose Bowl, the 2023 final was at the Oval and the 2025 final will be at Lord's. Despite the lure of playing at home, England have never reached the final. , 8:D - The West Indies players stayed on their coach and were late, meaning they did not have a proper warm-up. 'It was very tough,' said Gudakesh Motie. 'It was a long drive to the ground with a lot of traffic – it took about two hours on the bus. When we got to the ground we had only a few minutes before play.' , 9:B - It's a 48-team tournament so expect to see a few new faces – and a few more pages – in the sticker album., 10:A - Yates did not win any of the stages but he completed the 2,140-mile course quicker than anyone else. , 11:B - Warrington are up against it. They lost to Wigan in last year's final and are underdogs against Hull KR this time around. , 12:C - The draw for the race took place at a Picturehouse cinema in Epsom and featured the balls and velvet bag used in FA Cup draws. It was a step up from last year, when they used hand-scrawled ping-pong balls and held the draw outside the local Wetherspoons. , 13:C - The Earl of Derby and Sir Charles Bunbury both helped establish the race. They supposedly flipped a coin to determine whether it would be named 'Derby Stakes' or 'Bunbury Stakes.' Although Bunbury lost the coin toss, Newmarket later featured his name in the 'Bunbury Cup'., 14:B - Boxing has lost one of its greats. , 15:B - Taxi drivers in Rome did not welcome the comparison. 'We are the best at not having accidents, otherwise we would lose our working day,' said one annoyed driver. 'I would like to see Formula One drivers manoeuvring around construction sites, scooters and golf carts the way we do. Rome is now a jungle, not a Formula One track.' Scores
New York Times
34 minutes ago
- New York Times
Old friends Scott Harris, Jed Hoyer find themselves in first place again
CHICAGO — Last season, when the Chicago Cubs hosted the Detroit Tigers, it wasn't exactly a stress test for the friendship of the teams' respective presidents of baseball operations, Jed Hoyer and Scott Harris. The two friends, former co-workers and now professional equals, could instead commiserate over their sub-.500 teams. Advertisement After losing two of three at Wrigley Field on Aug. 22, Harris' Tigers were 62-66 and in front of just the lowly White Sox in the AL Central. Meanwhile, Hoyer's Cubs were treading water at 63-65. It was a long way from 2016, but one of their teams was about to take off. After the series, the Tigers traveled crosstown to play those aforementioned lowly White Sox, and they swept them to start an unexpected 24-10 run to the playoffs, where they won a wild-card series against Houston before losing to Cleveland in five games in the divisional round. Detroit sold at the trade deadline and somehow found itself a game away from the ALCS. Hoyer had plenty of time to watch the Tigers' playoff surprise because his Cubs finished 83-79, six games behind the third wild-card spot. Fast forward to today where the Tigers (41-23) have the best record in the American League and the Cubs (39-23) have the best record in the National League, and now maybe this fraternal rivalry has taken on a little edge as the Cubs head to Detroit for a three-game weekend series. I'm not saying it's a World Series preview, but it's not out of the question either. Both of these teams are playing like legit contenders. 'He's gonna be rage texting me during the games,' Harris predicted. 'I don't know that I'm going to respond.' 'I love it,' Hoyer said with a laugh. 'I'm such a 'rage texter.'' Chris Getz, the general manager of the White Sox, likes to joke that Hoyer thinks everyone is watching Cubs games, a personality quirk that Harris doesn't dispute. 'Sometimes it feels like he treats me as if I still work for him, which I do not,' he said. 'I'm actually two stops beyond working for him at this point. But he's obsessed with making the Cubs better, and that's the way his mind works. I think that's one of the reasons why they're successful.' Harris grew up in the business emulating Theo Epstein and Hoyer, so his approach to the job is not dissimilar. That is why he got a president of baseball operations gig before he turned 40. He was hired at 25 by the Cubs in the fall of 2012 to be their director of baseball operations. Seven years and one World Series ring later, he was an assistant GM when the San Francisco Giants hired him as their general manager. Three years after that, Detroit made him its president of baseball operations at 36. He brought along former Cubs assistant GM Jeff Greenberg, who was working for the Chicago Blackhawks. Advertisement Harris became nationally known during the Cubs' World Series run when ESPN's Wright Thompson profiled savior-in-chief Theo Epstein and included a scene from the front office suite where Harris was force-feeding himself bread at Epstein's behest for rallying purposes. 'I'm an easy target,' Harris said at a 'Pitch Talks' event in 2017. 'Just being the young guy, you can't really say no to anything. But I think the best part about Theo and Jed is they really create a fun and inclusive environment.' In reality, Harris wasn't just the kid in the room. He was an important part of the team's baseball operations department. Hoyer said they hired him knowing he'd be a GM one day soon and wanted to benefit from his services. 'It wasn't that Scott was just learning from us,' Hoyer said. 'I think he was contributing a ton as well. He's super curious, and I think that's probably one of his greatest strengths. He was always asking questions, always trying to advance and broaden his skill set. That's served him incredibly well, because I think he certainly learned a lot in his time in Chicago, but I think he learned a lot (in) his time in San Francisco from Farhan (Zaidi) as well. I think he's combined what he's learned at an exceptional level.' Reporters could never get much out of Harris in Chicago. He was friendly, sarcastic and was game to talk about anything … except the secrets we tried to pry out of him. His loyalty was with his bosses. 'I had two of the best mentors anyone could ask for in Theo and Jed,' he said. 'I learned about leadership and how to build a whole organization, as opposed to just a major-league team that's winning baseball games. I think Theo and Jed were both hyper-focused on that. I also really benefited from the experience of seeing the whole cycle in Chicago. Advertisement 'When I first started, I think we lost 96 games that year, and a few years later, we were on buses in a parade down Michigan Ave. And so seeing that whole cycle, you know, play out helps me collect a set of experiences that allow me to use some pattern recognition, like 'I've seen this before.' I've seen this player get to this level before. I've seen what it can do if you challenge a player to elevate a certain aspect of this game.' Whatever he's doing is working. The Tigers broke a nine-year playoff drought last season. This year, they are second in the AL in runs scored and are in the top 10 in most pitching stats. PECOTA projected them fourth in the AL Central before the season and now they're atop the entire AL. In March, the MLB Pipeline crew ranked Detroit as having the top farm system in the game. The Athletic's Keith Law ranked it seventh in January, which was down a spot from the year before. These are the prospects drafted and developed by Harris, Greenberg and their front office. Law ranked the Tigers' system 30th going into Harris' first season in charge, but the team's big-league roster is now full of players drafted in the Al Avila regime, led by the best pitcher in baseball in Tarik Skubal (who starts Friday against the Cubs) and hitters like Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, Dillon Dingler and Kerry Carpenter. What the Tigers seem to be doing well now, as opposed to before, is player development, the secret sauce to any successful organization. The young Tigers are improving and thriving. The farm system, headlined by A-ball hitters Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle, has time to mature. 'We set out to build a team full of young players that can win big-league games in different ways,' Harris said. 'I think that's the team that we have right now. This is a really fun team to watch, and it's a team that is just scratching the surface.' Meanwhile, Hoyer's vision for the Cubs is finally taking shape. He has a mix of veterans and young players, powered by a pair of MVP candidates in Kyle Tucker and Pete Crow-Armstrong. Like the Tigers, the Cubs are just a fun watch. They score a lot of runs in a variety of ways. Advertisement 'I think the longer I do this, the more I root for people as opposed to teams,' Harris said. 'There's a lot of good people in that organization. Jed is certainly one of them. When we're playing each other this weekend, I'm not going to pull for them. But I pull for a lot of these guys because I want them to be successful, and they built a hell of a team this year.' I joked with Hoyer that the Tigers are his 'AL team,' like when kids have a second-favorite team to root for. 'You don't spend that much time with people over a 10-year period and you develop real friendship,' Hoyer said. 'I've spent more time with Jeff and with Scott than probably any two people other than my wife during that period. I love how hard they work there, and obviously, watching their success at the end of last year and then this year, they deserve all of the credit.' Hoyer is also close friends with Detroit manager A.J. Hinch from their San Diego days, and the Cubs' former media relations guy, Peter Chase, landed in Detroit this season. And of course, there's Javy Báez, who has reinvigorated his career this season after hip surgery last year. Báez's last game of 2024 was that Aug. 22 loss in Chicago. He finished the season with a .184/.221/.294 slash line, and it looked like a DFA could be in his future. He had 'sunk cost' written all over him. That the team took off when he went on the shelf didn't go unnoticed. Much like his former star teammate in Chicago, Kris Bryant, Báez hadn't done much since signing a six-year, $140 million contract in Detroit before the 2022 season (and before Harris got there), making Hoyer look prescient, if not a little late, for his 2021 dismantling of the World Series core. In 216 total games in 2023-24, Baez hit just 15 homers and slugged .315. He came into spring training and said he'd play wherever Hinch wanted, but who would've thought he'd play such a big role on a first-place team again? Advertisement When Parker Meadows got hurt, Báez moved to center field. He thrived. 'A.J. knows I like playing outfield and I shag good in BP out there,' Báez said. 'With so many injuries that we had in spring training, he came to me and mentioned it, and I started smiling. So he knew it was a yes from me.' With Meadows back, Báez returned to the infield during the White Sox series and reminded people he's still El Mago. #JavierBáez — Javier Báez Page (@ElMagoJavy28) June 4, 2025 'For me, the best version of Javy is the one that's playing free and loose, the one that is just finding ways to help a team win,' Harris said. 'He's such a gifted athlete with elite baseball instincts, and when you surround him with a good baseball team, I think he finds ways to enhance the overall position playing group.' Báez was always one of Hoyer's favorite players, and if not for the pandemic, they might have nailed down a deal to keep him in Chicago. But Hoyer is doing more than fine with the guy Báez was traded for, Crow-Armstrong. It's looking like one of the best trades in Cubs history. Watching both on the same field this weekend should be a treat for baseball fans and executives. While Harris traveled to the North Side last season for the series, Hoyer won't be able to make the trip. 'Tell him I'll get him a signed Javy jersey if he comes,' Harris said. The message was passed along. But maybe Hoyer and Harris could find themselves in the same stadium again this fall with the biggest stakes imaginable. (Photo collage of Scott Harris and Jed Hoyer: Allison Farrand / Detroit Tigers; Griffin Quinn / Getty Images)
New York Times
34 minutes ago
- New York Times
Mets' Griffin Canning opens up on career revival in New York, struggles with Angels
LOS ANGELES — It was the very first day of the offseason — when players can finally exhale after a grueling eight months of non-stop baseball. That, however, was not the case for Griffin Canning. The then-Angels pitcher of six years, and lifelong Orange County, Calif., resident, found his life and career upended by a trade to the Braves just hours after the World Series ended. Advertisement 'It was a little shocking,' Canning said on Thursday. 'But I didn't have a great year last year, so I wasn't super surprised to see it.' To say he didn't have a great year in 2024 is an understatement. Canning allowed 99 runs, the most in the American League. His strikeout rate took a massive dip, from 9.9 per nine innings in 2023 to just 6.8 in 2024. It was a bad season. But he's more than made up for it with the Mets. After the Braves traded for the 29-year-old righty, he was non-tendered. New York subsequently signed Canning to a one-year, $4.25 million deal, taking a chance on a once-promising arm. He now has a 2.90 ERA over his first 12 starts and is one of the top starting pitchers in the National League, amid a full-scale turnaround of his career. Speaking in front of his locker inside the Mets clubhouse at Dodger Stadium — the morning after he shut out the defending champions over six innings — he reflected on why things have worked better for him in New York than they ever did in Anaheim. 'You see it with a lot of guys, just a change of scenery,' said Canning. 'I was in Southern California my whole life. It's nice to get out and experience something new.' It wasn't just the scenery that changed for Canning. It was the team culture, the strategic plan implemented by his new coaches, and the technology available to him. Most importantly, he changed his pitch sequencing. Canning's best pitch is his slider, but he didn't throw it as much in his final season with the Angels. Its usage has gone from 24.1 percent in 2024 to 32.9 percent this year. With that has come a dip in his four-seam fastball usage, which has gone from a primary option to a more strategic one. 'It was difficult. We had four or five different managers and four or five different pitching coaches with the Angels,' Canning said. 'Sometimes a new guy comes in and maybe doesn't necessarily know you as well. Or just different organizational philosophies when people come in and out.' Advertisement The results speak for themselves. His fastball is resulting in whiffs on 19.5 percent of swings, compared to 14.8 percent last year. The hard-hit percentage has decreased to 44.4 percent, compared to 51.4 percent in 2024. The batting average against and slugging percentage against have steeply declined. All while his slider effectiveness has increased across all the same metrics. Canning said there's nothing different about his slider. Just a few mechanical tweaks to his delivery, and, more importantly, he's changed what pitches he throws in what counts. 'It starts with him buying into what we offered him, and also giving credit to our pitching department that is able to not only provide the information, but get to know the player,' said Mets manager Carlos Mendoza. 'We knew he had a good slider. … Last year, he threw his four-seamer a lot. I think it's more increasing this pitch, not so much of that one.' Canning also said the Mets utilize technology differently. For example, he said he utilizes a KinaTrax machine, which allows him to see his skeletal movements and subsequently improve them. Canning said the reliance on technology with the Mets is more than he was used to with the Angels. 'We had it, but I never saw it,' Canning said of the KinaTrax. 'I think the Angels have all the similar things. I don't think it's a bad thing — sometimes they don't want guys to go down that rabbit hole, and worry about those kinds of things.' On Wednesday night, Canning had his best start of the season. Six shutout innings, seven strikeouts, no walks, just three hits. On the season, his home runs per nine innings dropped to 0.9 from 1.6. Hard contact against him has been fewer and farther between. 'Much different,' said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. 'Obviously, he's healthy. The stuff is playing up. The velocity is up. There's a cutter, the slider is good, there's a changeup. He's a much better pitcher, more weapons than he's had in the past.' Advertisement The Angels have long struggled to develop starting pitching, particularly pitchers that they drafted. Their recent history is littered with examples of arms who haven't evolved in the way they hoped. Canning is arguably the most concrete example of this. He was drafted in the second round in 2017. By 2019, he was the organization's top pitching prospect, behind only Jo Adell on the overall leaderboard. There was hope he'd be a legit ace-level pitcher. Instead, it was a half-dozen years of injuries and ineffectiveness. Culminating in his worst season, and a career inflection point. Now, Canning is that ace-level starter on the best team in the National League. He's a pending free agent, and if he continues to pitch well, he will command a haul on the open market. New York is a different animal from Anaheim. It's a younger and more lively crowd, Canning said, with a great knowledge of the game. But it also invites a ton of pressure — a demand for success that isn't matched anywhere else. The good news for Canning is that he's satisfied and exceeded every expectation. To save his career and be a critical piece of what the Mets hope is a historic season. 'They thought they could bring me in and see some success,' Canning said. 'I think it's a testament to the culture. A big aspect of it is being on more of a winning team. Not playing for yourself as much, but playing for the 25 other guys, has been helpful for me in particular.' The Athletic's Fabian Ardaya contributed reporting to this story. (Top Photo: Harry How / Getty Images)
