Thirteen Towns

A win for Draw followers in the National League Regional play-offs where the sequence of at least one of the Finals ending all-square since 2013 was extended with Weymouth and Dartford playing out a scoreless draw in the South. Weymouth were promoted to the National League after winning on penalties.

In the North, Altrincham won 1:0 at Boston United, the first win for an Away team in a Final since 2015, to make it eleven Under 2.5 goals in the last 14 finals. 

I think someone must be reading this blog, because the Draw price in both matches shortened following Friday's post.

In the National League Play-Off, while backing the Draw is historically not a profitable strategy, I backed the wrong horse opting for Notts County, when laying the Draw would have been a better option perhaps, but Harrogate Town won the game and become the 20th 'Town' to play in the Football League, and the seventh in the last quarter of a century. They've come a long way in 40 years!

For those who like this kind of stuff, Harrogate follow these other 'Towns' Macclesfield (1997), Cheltenham (1999), Yeovil (2003), Aldershot (2008), Crawley (2011), and Fleetwood (2013) into the League since 1997.

The League (Premier and Football) now has 13 Towns and 13 Uniteds but Citys lead after Salford's promotion last year with 14. Rovers (5) and Wanderers (4) are some way adrift. 

Here are the updated results from the National League Play-Off Finals:

The usual warning that the sample size here is small, and in the neutral finals at least, one result can turn red to green and vice versa.

The FA Cup was also completed this weekend, with Arsenal again winning as Underdogs. Including League Cup Finals, the results for Cup Finals since 2004-05 are: