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Notts County, Crawley and Orient are relegated on last day of League 1 season


 

They say a season is a long time in football - tell that to Leyton Orient fans and they will believe you. This time last season the East London side just missed out on automatic promotion and were dramatically beaten in the play-off final at Wembley after leading Rotherham for most of the game.

A year on, new owners, three different managers, and they  found themselves at the wrong end of the table and a draw at Swindon was not enough and  they are now back in League Two for the first time since 2006.

Notts County also crashed into League Two as three late goals from Gillingham condemned them to defeat.

The Magpies knew that a win would preserve their League One status and Graham Burke put them ahead from an acute angle in the 61st minute.

They looked to be safe but John Egan set nerves jangling again when he headed home two minutes from time.

Brennan Dickenson's curling shot put County behind before substitute Luke Norris hit the third to relegate them.

County had started the day outside the bottom four and missed several oppor­tuni­ti­es to make the game safe before their late collapse.

The defeat meant Notts County ended the season with a run of just one win in 13 games.

Meanwhile, Crawley, who at one time lead Coventry 1-0 ended up losing 2-1 and dropping back into the bottom four. The big winners were Colchester - who beat Preston and Crewe - who at one stage were back in the bottom four but results went for them in the end even though they lost their last game 1-0 at home to Bradford.

Jb

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