Bolton boss Ian Evatt stressed it was “a lot more uncomfortable than it needed to be” after his side moved into the League One play-off final despite being beaten at home by Barnsley.After winning last Friday’s semi-final first leg 3-1 at Oakwell, Bolton had their lead halved in the 36th minute by Sam Cosgrove before hitting back with a fine Aaron Collins strike and an Eoin Toal ...

Scott Lindsey was in no mood for celebration despite his Crawley side taking a firm grip of their Sky Bet League Two play-off semi-final by beating MK Dons 3-0 at the Broadfield Stadium.The Red Devils go into the return leg at Stadium MK on Saturday with a sizeable advantage after first-half goals from Liam Kelly and Jay Williams put them in charge before a sell out crowd of 5,564.Substitute Ronan...

Partick Thistle manager Kris Doolan hailed Luke McBeth’s “disgrace” of a first professional goal after the centre-back got his side’s play-off campaign up and running.Thistle were trailing to Nikolay Todorov’s early header and toiling at Airdrie when McBeth won the ball, drove forward and fired a 30-yard strike into the top corner.Scott Robinson netted from close rang...

Inverness played out a goalless draw away at League One Montrose in the first leg of their play-off semi-final as they seek to avoid being relegated from the Scottish Championship.Against the side that finished fourth in the third tier, the closest Inverness came to snatching a victory to take into the return leg came on the stroke of half-time, Samson Lawal lashing a shot against the crossbar fro...

Bolton secured their place in the League One play-off final despite being beaten by Barnsley at the Toughsheet Community Stadium as Ian Evatt’s men edged the Tykes 5-4 on aggregate.Holding the upper hand after last Friday’s 3-1 semi-final first-leg win at Oakwell, Bolton had their lead cut in the 36th minute by Sam Cosgrove before hitting back with a fine Aaron Collins strike and an Eo...

Paris St Germain exited the Champions League at the semi-final stage as a Mats Hummels goal earned Borussia Dortmund a 1-0 win at the Parc de Princes to send them through 2-0 on aggregate.Hummels headed in from a corner at the start of second half, moments after PSG had wasted a golden chance to level the tie when Warren Zaire-Emery crashed the ball against the post from close range.It was one of ...

A late penalty from Tony Wallace gave hosts Dumbarton a slender 2-1 advantage over Stirling Albion in their Scottish League One play-off semi-final first leg.The Sons snatched an early lead against their League One opponents when James Hilton headed home from a Kalvin Orsi cross.But Stirling responded just before the half-hour mark when Cammy Clark’s long ball found Dale Hilson, who cut insi...

Crawley took a firm grip of their League Two play-off semi-final by deservedly beating MK Dons 3-0 in the first leg at a sold-out Broadfield Stadium.Liam Kelly gave the Red Devils the perfect start with a fifth-minute opener and Jay Williams struck again in first-half stoppage time.Substitute Ronan Darcy hit a deflected third to leave the Dons facing a big test in the return leg at Stadium MK on S...

Blair Henderson scored a late penalty as Spartans squeezed a slender advantage from their cinch League 1 play-off semi-final first leg against Peterhead.Spartans, in their first season at senior level, had fallen behind after just eight minutes when Peterhead’s Conor O’Keefe burst clear and lobbed goalkeeper Blair Carswell.But Paul Watson slid home the equaliser from a corner in the 17...

Airdrie and Partick Thistle served up an entertaining 2-2 first-leg draw to leave the cinch Premiership play-off quarter-final in the balance.Nikolay Todorov gave Airdrie an early lead but Luke McBeth’s spectacular strike sparked a turnaround that was completed by Scott Robinson in the final minute of the first half.The Diamonds also scored in the fifth minute of the second half through Gabb...