Crawley Town beat MK Dons 5-1 (8-1 on aggregate) in the League Two play-off semi-final to reach Wembley for the first time in the club's history. Here is SussexWorld's Mark Dunford's diary of the historic day
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00:00 So got my snacks I'm here ready I'm just about to go and pick Lucas up he's
00:04 helping me with the coverage of Crawley Town at MK Don's for the
00:09 second leg of the League Two playoff semi-final. Yeah got some snacks got some
00:13 drinks ready for a long two and a half hour trip to Milton Keynes by the looks of it.
00:18 Yeah this is our journey.
00:23 Hello you alright? Yeah good.
00:29 [Radio chatter]
00:40 [Car engine]
00:47 Hi mate yeah we're here to cover the game Crawley Town part of the
01:05 media team I registered my number plate with them. Yeah of course you can, Mark Dunford.
01:16 Yeah over there yeah cool lovely cheers mate.
01:31 [Car engine]
01:39 So our entrance gate 7 going in there to collect our accreditation hopefully go
01:52 up to the media lounge. So we've got our passes now we are going up to the media
01:59 lounge to see what we can have up there I think we get free tea and coffee maybe
02:05 some food later so yeah more stairs.
02:11 Thank you.
02:14 [Car engine]
02:25 [Car engine]
02:43 That's good
02:46 Look at that.
02:48 Better time mate.
02:50 [Laughter]
02:52 [Car engine]
03:04 What's up mate?
03:06 You alright?
03:08 [Car engine]
03:17 Hi Larry how you doing?
03:19 [Applause]
03:29 [Car engine]
03:38 How are you?
03:40 [Applause]
03:52 [Applause]
04:02 [Applause]
04:12 [Applause]
04:32 [Applause]
04:52 [Applause]
05:02 [Laughter]
05:14 The horse head is pretty special.
05:16 It is pretty good isn't it?
05:18 Yep. I'm going to go and have a chat with her in a minute.
05:22 [Laughter]
05:24 [Car engine]
05:34 Here comes the gaffer.
05:36 Oh.
05:38 [Car engine]
05:46 [Applause]
05:58 Lindsay can you sign?
06:00 [Car engine]
06:12 Sorry I'm live on Facebook. I'm from the Crawley Observer.
06:14 Hello how you doing? Can I take your name?
06:16 What's your name? I'm Karen.
06:18 Karen. I mean we don't have to ask what's inspired the horse head.
06:20 [Laughter]
06:22 It's probably the one and only one here at the moment.
06:24 Yeah.
06:26 But if they start a crag.
06:28 If they get there.
06:30 Fingers crossed.
06:32 What score prediction tonight?
06:34 Well I don't care as a horse.
06:36 Fair enough.
06:38 1-1. Going 1-1. Excellent.
06:40 Well I hope you enjoy the game.
06:42 It's been awesome. The season has been fantastic.
06:44 It's been amazing. Scott Lindsay has done an incredible job.
06:46 We only need a draw anyway.
06:48 Yeah. Exactly.
06:50 The fact that he believes in the law of attraction has done it for me.
06:52 I believe in all of that.
06:54 That was really interesting to hear him talking about that wasn't it?
06:56 Yeah. I've had a few chats with him and I didn't know he was into that.
06:58 And now I do. I totally believe he's got it to the right.
07:00 Brilliant.
07:02 Go away. Good luck. Cheers. Take care.
07:04 So that was the Crawley Town players arriving at Stadium MK today for the first time.
07:06 So that was the Crawley Town players arriving at Stadium MK today for the first time.
07:10 For the second leg of their play-off semi-final of MK Dons.
07:12 3-0 up from the first game.
07:14 So yeah.
07:16 They're firm favourites but nobody's taking anything for granted.
07:18 We saw what happened with Kru and Doncaster last night.
07:20 We saw what happened with Kru and Doncaster last night.
07:22 And we saw what happened with Peter Brinsheff Wednesday last year.
07:24 And we saw what happened with Peter Brinsheff Wednesday last year.
07:26 So it's going to be a very, very interesting game.
07:28 So it's going to be a very, very interesting game.
07:30 Spoke to Scott Lindsay on Thursday.
07:32 And he was saying that
07:34 obviously a clean sheet gets them through
07:36 but they're not coming here just to defend
07:38 and keep a clean sheet.
07:40 They were still coming to go out on the win.
07:42 It's a style that's kept them in good stead all season.
07:44 It's a style that's kept them in good stead all season.
07:46 Yes, they have had slip-ups here and there
07:48 but they're in the play-offs. First time ever.
07:50 Looking to get to Wembley for the first time.
07:52 And now, here we are
07:54 at Stadium MK
07:56 at the Double Tree Hill.
07:58 And it is an impressive stadium
08:00 but it's going to be weird inside
08:02 when it's half full
08:04 when it's half full and a bit echoey.
08:06 Give me a Brawlfield Stadium
08:08 any day of the week with that atmosphere that we had on Tuesday night.
08:10 So, here we go.
08:12 Lots of MK fans
08:14 hanging around waiting to
08:16 see players.
08:18 So I'm just going to walk you up now.
08:20 So I'm just going to walk you up now.
08:22 There you go, MK Dons.
08:24 I'm going to walk you up now
08:26 to the media area.
08:30 There's another Crawley Town fan there.
08:32 Sorry, I'm live on Facebook at the moment.
08:34 Good luck.
08:36 Some more MK Dons fans
08:38 coming round here.
08:40 I think that somebody said they were expecting
08:42 about 12,000 here today.
08:44 1600 plus
08:46 Crawley fans.
08:48 So, my money's
08:50 on Crawley fans making more noise.
08:52 So I'm just going back into the
08:54 media room.
08:56 So I might get a bit out of breath in a minute.
08:58 Because
09:00 shit.
09:02 Here's the
09:04 not sure exactly where the Crawley fans
09:06 are sitting.
09:08 That's Lucas Michael who's helping us do
09:10 the coverage today.
09:12 [crowd noise]
09:22 [crowd noise]
09:46 [crowd noise]
10:06 [crowd noise]
10:16 [crowd noise]
10:28 [crowd noise]
10:40 [crowd noise]
10:54 [crowd noise]
11:10 [crowd noise]
11:18 [crowd noise]
11:36 [crowd noise]
12:02 [crowd noise]
12:16 [whistle]
12:18 [crowd noise]
12:32 [crowd noise]
12:48 It's a miracle, isn't it?
12:50 My life, I mean, I've waited all my life
12:52 for this. Wembley,
12:54 Holytown, 8-1-1
12:56 I'm going, "Oh, Mark, can you
12:58 believe it? I'm so happy."
13:00 [crowd noise]
13:16 [crowd noise]
13:40 [crowd noise]
14:08 [crowd noise]
14:34 Yeah, incredibly proud.
14:36 Unbelievable feeling
14:38 to take such a wonderful football club
14:40 to Wembley for the first time.
14:42 I'm really proud of everybody
14:44 who's been involved in the work that's gone in
14:46 to get to this stage. It's just incredible.
14:48 I'm really,
14:50 really proud.
14:52 We were backed to go
14:54 down.
14:56 We've proved a lot of people wrong.
14:58 And I want to thank everybody
15:02 for proving us up.
15:04 For not backing us.
15:06 I want to thank everybody for that because it's fuelled me
15:08 and the players. So thanks for that.
15:10 Unbelievable.
15:12 I know it's cliche.
15:14 I don't think there are any words. Who would have thought it?
15:16 Corley Town,
15:18 firstly coming in here and putting on an unbelievable performance
15:20 on the night. And then I think someone just said
15:22 to me, "Highest ever aggregate win in a playoff game."
15:24 Yeah, I just heard that as well. Yeah.
15:26 What do you say to that?
15:28 Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Everyone deserves it.
15:30 Unbelievable. I don't think there's words to
15:32 quite put into how
15:34 the boys are feeling, how I'm feeling.
15:36 It's a fantastic achievement.
15:38 We're not done yet. There's one more game to go and we're
15:40 looking forward to going to Wembley and putting on a show there.
15:42 So here we are
15:44 after the game where all the Crawley fans
15:46 are waiting for their players.
15:48 There's Will Wright over there.
15:54 Karl Arriman
15:56 talking to family
15:58 and friends and supporters.
16:00 Ready to get
16:02 on their coach back to their hotel to celebrate.
16:04 I don't think it was who it is.
16:22 Yeah.
16:24 Is that all right?
16:26 Yeah.
16:28 We've had something like this since we played against Man U
16:30 all them years back.
16:32 Yeah.
16:34 This is history for Crawley, to be honest.
16:36 It's history and we
16:38 going into the second leg
16:40 it was a bit squeaky.
16:42 Are they going to pull it back?
16:44 Didn't give them a sniff. Never in doubt, was it?
16:46 They could have had Hazley
16:48 but they still wouldn't have got a sniff.
16:50 Sorry, I've just got to get the Crawley Observer shirt. Lovely.
16:52 Good. Yes. Sorry.
16:54 If we could take
16:56 So, we're going to Wembley and you want to mount him in Ireland, right?
17:00 Yeah.
17:01 Go!
17:02 Ossie! Ossie! Ossie!
17:04 Go get it, Ossie!
17:06 Ossie! Ossie! Ossie!
17:08 Go get it, Ossie!
17:10 Ossie! Ossie! Ossie!
17:12 Go get it, Ossie!
17:14 Ossie! Ossie! Ossie!
17:16 He's really coming.
17:23 He's waiting for you to come back.
17:26 Yeah!
17:27 Ossie! Ossie! Ossie!
17:29 Go get it, Ossie!
17:31 Ossie! Ossie! Ossie!
17:33 Go get it, Ossie!
17:35 Go get it, Ossie!
17:37 Go get it, Ossie!
17:39 Go get it, Ossie!
17:41 Go get it, Ossie!
17:43 Go get it, Ossie!
17:45 Go get it, Ossie!
17:47 Go get it, Ossie!
17:49 Go get it, Ossie!
17:51 Go get it, Ossie!
17:53 Go get it, Ossie!
17:55 Go get it, Ossie!
17:57 Go get it, Ossie!
17:59 Go get it, Ossie!
18:01 Go get it, Ossie!
18:03 Go get it, Ossie!
18:05 Go get it, Ossie!
18:07 Go get it, Ossie!
18:09 Go get it, Ossie!
18:11 Go get it, Ossie!
18:13 Go get it, Ossie!
18:15 Go get it, Ossie!
18:17 Go get it, Ossie!
18:19 Go get it, Ossie!
18:21 Go get it, Ossie!
18:23 Go get it, Ossie!
18:25 Go get it, Ossie!
18:27 Go get it, Ossie!
18:29 Go get it, Ossie!
18:31 Go get it, Ossie!
18:33 Go get it, Ossie!
18:35 Go get it, Ossie!
18:37 Go get it, Ossie!
18:39 Go get it, Ossie!
18:41 Go get it, Ossie!
18:43 Go get it, Ossie!
18:45 Go get it, Ossie!
18:47 Go get it, Ossie!
18:49 Go get it, Ossie!
18:51 Yeah, it's been an incredible night
18:55 and there's one more incredible day to come.
18:58 Next Sunday, Crawley Town
19:00 at Wembley in the playoff final.
19:02 Can you believe it? I can.
19:04 can.