Play-offs memories - from those who were there

To celebrate 40 years of the English Football League (EFL) play-offs, we asked you to choose your favourite moment from our poll of 15 legendary games.

The three that were selected most frequently in the poll were Clive Mendonca's hat-trick for Charlton Athletic against Sunderland in 1998, Troy Deeney's breathtaking late goal as Watford beat Leicester City in 2013, and Sheffield Wednesday's magnificent second-leg comeback against Peterborough United in 2023.

They are all worthy of reliving time and time again, but what was it like to actually take part in the play-offs?

The 72+ podcast asked those who have lived it to share the moments that are special to them.

When Sheffield Wednesday trailed Peterborough United 4-0 after the first leg of their League One play-off semi-final in 2023, it seemed like it was all over for the Owls.

Boss Darren Moore was not convinced though, so much so that he had his team preparing for all possibilities in the second leg.

"When I came in on the Monday, we finished training and I started taking penalty kicks with the boys," he said.

"The looks I got... but what I did was I got into them psychologically. They were finishing the pens they were taking, but they were proving to me they could score.

"The second day, I got all the academy staff out and I had them waving banners behind the goal. On the Wednesday, we went down to Hillsborough and this time I'd done it under a chorus of boos over the tannoy."

It worked.

The Owls fought back to take the game into extra time, and came back again to go to penalties. From then on, practice made perfect and five superb spot-kicks later they sealed a place in the final against Barnsley.

"It was the easiest team talk," said Moore. "I said, 'lads, we are prepared for this'.

"If you look at the five kicks that they took, they were absolutely sublime. The work over the four or five days, the intensity to make sure everything was possible, that we were going to leave it on the pitch, was achieved."

Troy Deeney's goal for Watford against Leicester City in the second leg of their 2013 Championship play-off semi-final will go down as one of the stand-out games in EFL history.

So memorable, in fact, it is hard to recall what came before it.

"Everyone forgets the first leg, I was suspended for it because I got sent off against Leeds United," Deeney said.

"That was very difficult to deal with but I told everybody in my family and anyone that would listen that I would score on that day.

"Obviously, I didn't know I was going to score a goal of that magnitude."

Frustrated after missing the first leg and annoyed by what he believed was a dive from Anthony Knockaert to win a penalty for Leicester in stoppage time, the striker went on to fulfill his promise.

Manuel Almunia saved Knockaert's spot-kick and Watford broke away before Deeney smashed home the winning goal in a dramatic conclusion for the ages.

"I'm thinking we've been cheated, there's no way this is going to happen to us," he said.

"Fast forward 20 seconds later, I'm scoring a goal and jumping into my family in the crowd.

"It was absolute pandemonium. A moment I wish I could just bottle up and say, 'Right, we can do that again'."

There have been some stellar moments in the play-offs, but it is not always the ones that get talked about the most that stay with people.

For former West Bromwich Albion captain Jed Wallace, it was his first play-off experience with Millwall in 2017 that stands out.

Millwall were drawing 0-0 with Bradford City at Wembley, with promotion to the Championship at stake, before Steve Morison volleyed in an 89th-minute winner to send the Lions up.

"When you look at the success that the club has had since then, that was probably the moment eight or nine years ago that propelled the club into the Championship and gave them the platform to build, to be what they are today," Wallace said.

While for 72+ podcast regular and former Reading skipper Jobi McAnuff, it was his goal in their Championship play-off semi-final win against Cardiff in 2011 that he treasures.

Following a goalless first leg, the Royals were leading 2-0 in the Welsh capital, but McAnuff only felt the tension release after scoring his side's third goal late in the 84th minute.

"I picked the ball up in the middle of the park and set off," the 44-year-old said.

"Went past one, went past two, into the box and then just smashed it into the goal and it was such a nice feeling. That relief knowing the job was done. Wicked night."

Former Hull City boss Phil Brown considers Dean Windass' winner for the Tigers against Bristol City in 2008 "the greatest of all time" in his top play-off moments but it is not the memory that he cherishes most.

Brown led Hull into top-flight football for the very first time but it was his League Two play-off final victory with Southend United against Wycombe Wanderers in 2015 that he enjoyed the most.

The Shrimpers were taken to penalties after both sides scored in extra time before the Essex side claimed victory in a nervy penalty shootout that ended 7-6.

"Probably my favourite moment of all time is when Gareth Ainsworth [then-Wycombe manager] said, 'Come on Browny, penalty shootout. Let's just hold each other's hands, arm in arm, whatever the case may be, and we will take whatever the football gods give us'.

"Fabulous man, fabulous moment - one of those great moments that happens in play-offs, and only play-offs, when the pressure cooker has been cranked up to the highest level."

Aaron McLean scored the opening goal for Aldershot Town in their National League play-off final against Shrewsbury Town in 2004 but it did not go so well after that.

The Shrews equalised, McLean was forced off the pitch, and the striker had to watch from the bench as the Shots suffered a penalty shootout defeat.

"I have to come off with cramp, embarrassingly, and it goes to penalties," McLean said.

"We end up losing and that was my first taste of the heartbreak that the play-off brings, but it gave me that burning desire to not go through the play-offs and get automatic promotion [instead]."

That same year, McLean's Final Score colleague Sam Parkin also had a rough time of it with Swindon Town in their loss to Brighton and Hove Albion in the League One play-off semi-finals.

The striker suffered a nasty injury in the first half but levelled the aggregate score in the 81st minute only for the Robins to eventually lose in a penalty shootout.

"I only had one unsuccessful play-off campaign, which ended in the heartbreak of penalties and the loss of my two front teeth," he said. "I'm going to give it the short shrift it deserves."

Parkin found the teeth, put them into milk (it keeps them moist, apparently), and headed off to hospital after the match.