2020–21 EFL League Two

The 2020–21 EFL League Two (referred to as the Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship reasons) was the 17th season of Football League Two under its current title and the 29th season under its current league division format.^[1][2]

EFL League Two

Season	2020–21
Dates	12 September 2020 – 8 May 2021
Champions	Cheltenham Town
Promoted	Cheltenham Town Cambridge United Bolton Wanderers Morecambe
Relegated	Southend United Grimsby Town
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,303 (2.36 per match)
Top goalscorer	Paul Mullin (32 goals)
Biggest home win	Tranmere Rovers 5–0 Grimsby Town (21 November 2020) Exeter City 6–1 Colchester United (24 November 2020) Exeter City 5–0 Tranmere Rovers (12 December 2020)
Biggest away win	Morecambe 0–5 Cambridge United (19 September 2020) Scunthorpe United 0–5 Cambridge United (17 October 2020)
Highest scoring	Bolton Wanderers 3–6 Port Vale (5 December 2020) Harrogate Town 5–4 Cambridge United (30 April 2021)
Longest winning run	Bolton Wanderers Port Vale (6 games)
Longest unbeaten run	Bolton Wanderers (14 games)
Longest winless run	Colchester United Walsall (14 games)
Longest losing run	Southend United (6 games)
← 2019–20 2021–22 →

Team changes

A socially distanced crowd at Wetherby Road in December 2020.

The following teams have changed divisions since the 2019–20 season.

To League Two

Promoted from National League

• Barrow
• Harrogate Town

Relegated from League One

• Tranmere Rovers
• Southend United
• Bolton Wanderers

From League Two

Promoted to League One

• Swindon Town
• Crewe Alexandra
• Plymouth Argyle
• Northampton Town

Relegated to National League

• Macclesfield Town^[a]

1. Stevenage originally finished 24th in the 2019–20 EFL League Two table, but after 17 points were deducted against Macclesfield Town, Macclesfield slipped to 24th, and Stevenage were granted a reprieve from relegation.^[3]

Stadiums

Greater Manchester

Barrow

Bradford City

Cambridge United

Carlisle United

Cheltenham
Town

Crawley Town

Colchester United

Exeter City

Harrogate Town

Leyton Orient

Forest
Green Rovers

Grimsby Town

Mansfield Town

Morecambe

Newport County

Port Vale

Scunthorpe
United

Southend
United

Stevenage

Tranmere Rovers

Walsall

Greater Manchester teams
Bolton Wanderers
Oldham Athletic
Salford City

Locations of the 2020–21 EFL League Two teams

Bolton Wanderers

Oldham Athletic

Salford City

Greater Manchester League Two football clubs

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Barrow	Barrow-in-Furness	Holker Street	5,045
Bolton Wanderers	Bolton	University of Bolton Stadium	28,723
Bradford City	Bradford	Valley Parade	25,136
Cambridge United	Cambridge	Abbey Stadium	8,127
Carlisle United	Carlisle	Brunton Park	18,202
Cheltenham Town	Cheltenham	Whaddon Road	7,066
Colchester United	Colchester	Colchester Community Stadium	10,105
Crawley Town	Crawley	Broadfield Stadium	5,996
Exeter City	Exeter	St. James Park	8,696
Forest Green Rovers	Nailsworth	The New Lawn	5,147
Grimsby Town	Cleethorpes	Blundell Park	9,052
Harrogate Town	Harrogate	Wetherby Road[a]	5,000
Leyton Orient	London (Leyton)	Brisbane Road	9,271
Mansfield Town	Mansfield	Field Mill	10,000
Morecambe	Morecambe	Globe Arena	6,476
Newport County	Newport	Rodney Parade	7,850
Oldham Athletic	Oldham	Boundary Park	13,512
Port Vale	Burslem	Vale Park	19,052
Salford City	Salford	Moor Lane	5,108
Scunthorpe United	Scunthorpe	Glanford Park	9,088
Southend United	Southend-on-Sea	Roots Hall	12,392
Stevenage	Stevenage	Broadhall Way	7,300
Tranmere Rovers	Birkenhead	Prenton Park	16,789
Walsall	Walsall	Bescot Stadium	11,300

1. Harrogate Town began the season at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster.^[4]

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Sponsor
Barrow	Rob Kelly (caretaker)	Jason Taylor	Joma	JF Hornby & Co.
Bolton Wanderers	Ian Evatt	Antoni Sarcevic	Macron	Home Bargains
Bradford City	Mark Trueman and Conor Sellars	Richard O'Donnell	Avec Sport	JCT600
Cambridge United	Mark Bonner	Greg Taylor	Hummel	Mick George
Carlisle United	Chris Beech	Nick Anderton	Erreà	Edinburgh Woollen Mill
Cheltenham Town	Michael Duff	Ben Tozer	Erreà	Mira Showers[5]
Colchester United	Hayden Mullins (caretaker)	Harry Pell	Macron	Texo Scaffolding (Home) JobServe (Away / Third)
Crawley Town	John Yems	George Francomb[6]	Erreà	The People's Pension
Exeter City	Matt Taylor	Jake Taylor	Joma	Carpetright
Forest Green Rovers	Jimmy Ball (caretaker)	Chris Stokes	PlayerLayer[7]	Ecotricity
Grimsby Town	Paul Hurst	James McKeown	Erreà	Young's Seafood
Harrogate Town	Simon Weaver	Josh Falkingham	New Balance	Strata
Leyton Orient	Jobi McAnuff (caretaker)	Jobi McAnuff	New Balance	Multiple charities[note 1]
Mansfield Town	Nigel Clough	Ollie Clarke	Surridge	One Call
Morecambe	Derek Adams	Sam Lavelle	Macron	Annapurna Recruitment[9]
Newport County	Michael Flynn	Joss Labadie	Hummel	Home: Alzheimer's Society Cymru[10] Away: PureVans[11] Third: ExilesPicks[12]
Oldham Athletic	Keith Curle	Carl Piergianni[13]	Hummel	Wakelet
Port Vale	Darrell Clarke	Tom Conlon	Erreà	Synectics Solutions
Salford City	Gary Bowyer	Ashley Eastham	Kappa	TalkTalk
Scunthorpe United	Neil Cox	Jordan Clarke	Macron	Utilita Energy
Southend United	Phil Brown	John White	Hummel	Watchlotto
Stevenage	Alex Revell	Scott Cuthbert	Macron	Burger King
Tranmere Rovers	Ian Dawes (caretaker)	Scott Davies	Puma	Essar
Walsall	Brian Dutton	James Clarke	Erreà	HomeServe

1. Tottenham Hotspur player Harry Kane, who played for Leyton Orient early in his career, bought the club's shirt sponsorship for the 2020–21 season. Each of the team's shirts will feature a different message or charity chosen by Kane: "Thank You Frontline Workers" (home shirt), Haven House Children's Hospice (away shirt), and Mind (third shirt).^[8]

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Bolton Wanderers	Keith Hill[14]	End of contract	12 June 2020	Pre-season	Ian Evatt[15]	1 July 2020
Southend United	Sol Campbell[16]	Mutual consent	30 June 2020		Mark Molesley[17]	13 August 2020
Barrow	Ian Evatt[15]	Signed by Bolton Wanderers	1 July 2020		David Dunn[18]	9 July 2020
Tranmere Rovers	Micky Mellon[19]	Signed by Dundee United	6 July 2020		Mike Jackson[20]	18 July 2020
Colchester United	John McGreal[21]	Sacked	14 July 2020		Steve Ball[22]	28 July 2020
Oldham Athletic	Dino Maamria[23]		31 July 2020		Harry Kewell[24]	1 August 2020
Scunthorpe United	Russ Wilcox[25]	End of caretaker spell	7 August 2020		Neil Cox[26]	7 August 2020
Salford City	Graham Alexander[27]	Sacked	12 October 2020	5th	Richie Wellens[28]	4 November 2020
Mansfield Town	Graham Coughlan[29]		27 October 2020	22nd	Nigel Clough[30]	6 November 2020
Tranmere Rovers	Mike Jackson[31]		31 October 2020	18th	Keith Hill[32]	21 November 2020
Bradford City	Stuart McCall[33]		13 December 2020	22nd	Mark Trueman Conor Sellars[34]	22 February 2021
Barrow	David Dunn[35]			21st	Michael Jolley[36]	23 December 2020
Grimsby Town	Ian Holloway[37]	Resigned	23 December 2020	20th	Paul Hurst[38]	30 December 2020
Port Vale	John Askey[39]	Sacked	4 January 2021	17th	Darrell Clarke[40]	15 February 2021
Walsall	Darrell Clarke	Signed by Port Vale[41]	15 February 2021	11th	Brian Dutton[41]	15 February 2021
Barrow	Michael Jolley	Sacked	21 February 2021	23rd	Rob Kelly (Caretaker)[42]	21 February 2021
Colchester United	Steve Ball		24 February 2021	21st	Wayne Brown (Caretaker)[43]	24 February 2021
Leyton Orient	Ross Embleton[44]		27 February 2021	14th	Jobi McAnuff (Caretaker)[45]	28 February 2021
Oldham Athletic	Harry Kewell[46]		7 March 2021	16th	Keith Curle[47]	8 March 2021
Salford City	Richie Wellens[48]	Mutual consent	22 March 2021	9th	Gary Bowyer[49]	23 March 2021
Colchester United	Wayne Brown (Caretaker)[43]	End of caretaker spell	31 March 2021	21st	Hayden Mullins (Caretaker)[50]	31 March 2021
Southend United	Mark Molesley[51]	Mutual consent	9 April 2021	23rd	Phil Brown[52]	9 April 2021
Forest Green Rovers	Mark Cooper[53]	Sacked	11 April 2021	6th	Jimmy Ball (interim)[53]	11 April 2021
Tranmere Rovers	Keith Hill[54]	Sacked	11 May 2021	7th	Ian Dawes[54] (caretaker)	11 May 2021

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Cheltenham Town (C, P)	46	24	10	12	61	39	+22	82	Promotion to the EFL League One
2	Cambridge United (P)	46	24	8	14	73	49	+24	80
3	Bolton Wanderers (P)	46	23	10	13	59	50	+9	79
4	Morecambe (O, P)	46	23	9	14	69	58	+11	78	Qualification for League Two play-offs
5	Newport County	46	20	13	13	57	42	+15	73
6	Forest Green Rovers	46	20	13	13	59	51	+8	73
7	Tranmere Rovers	46	20	13	13	55	50	+5	73
8	Salford City	46	19	14	13	54	34	+20	71
9	Exeter City	46	18	16	12	71	50	+21	70
10	Carlisle United	46	18	12	16	60	51	+9	66
11	Leyton Orient	46	17	10	19	53	55	−2	61
12	Crawley Town	46	16	13	17	56	62	−6	61
13	Port Vale	46	17	9	20	57	57	0	60
14	Stevenage	46	14	18	14	41	41	0	60
15	Bradford City	46	16	11	19	48	53	−5	59
16	Mansfield Town	46	13	19	14	57	55	+2	58
17	Harrogate Town	46	16	9	21	52	61	−9	57
18	Oldham Athletic	46	15	9	22	72	81	−9	54
19	Walsall	46	11	20	15	45	53	−8	53
20	Colchester United	46	11	18	17	44	61	−17	51
21	Barrow	46	13	11	22	53	59	−6	50
22	Scunthorpe United	46	13	9	24	41	64	−23	48
23	Southend United (R)	46	10	15	21	29	58	−29	45	Relegation to National League
24	Grimsby Town (R)	46	10	13	23	37	69	−32	43

Updated to match(es) played on 31 May 2021. Source: EFL Official Website
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results; 5) Wins; 6) Away goals; 7) Penalty points (sec 9.5); 8) 12-point sending off offences^[55]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Play-offs

	Semi-finals							Final
	4	Morecambe	2	1	3
	7	Tranmere Rovers	1	1	2
								4	Morecambe	1
								5	Newport County	0
	5	Newport County	2	3	5
	6	Forest Green Rovers	0	4	4

First leg

18 May 2021

20:15

Newport County	2–0	Forest Green Rovers
Dolan 31' Lewis Collins 56'	Report

Rodney Parade, Newport

Attendance: 900

Referee: Charles Breakspear

20 May 2021

18:00

Tranmere Rovers	1–2	Morecambe
Clarke 19'	Report	Knight-Percival 15' McAlinden 45+1'

Prenton Park, Tranmere

Referee: Darren Drysdale

Second leg

23 May 2021

12:30

Morecambe	1–1	Tranmere Rovers
Wildig 9'	Report	Vaughan 53'

Mazuma Stadium, Morecambe

Referee: Thomas Bramall

23 May 2021

18:30

Forest Green Rovers	4–3 (a.e.t.)	Newport County
Adams 7' Aaron Collins 8' Cadden 53' Matt 87'	Report	Ellison 70' Labadie 77' Maynard 119'

New Lawn, Nailsworth

Attendance: 1,300

Referee: Martin Coy

Final

Main article: 2021 EFL League Two play-off Final

31 May 2021

15:00 BST

Morecambe	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Newport County
Mendes Gomes 107' (pen.)	Report

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 9,083

Referee: Bobby Madley

Results

Home \ Away	BRW	BOL	BRA	CAM	CAR	CHE	COL	CRA	EXE	FOR	GRI	HAR	LEY	MAN	MOR	NEW	OLD	POR	SAL	SCU	SOU	STE	TRA	WAL
Barrow	—	3–3	1–0	0–2	2–2	3–0	1–1	3–2	2–1	2–2	0–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	1–2	2–1	3–4	0–2	0–1	1–0	1–2	1–1	1–1	2–2
Bolton Wanderers	1–0	—	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–2	0–1	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–2	3–6	2–0	2–0	3–0	1–0	0–3	2–1
Bradford City	2–1	1–1	—	1–0	0–1	1–2	0–0	0–2	2–2	4–1	1–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–3	0–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	3–0	2–1	0–1	1–1
Cambridge United	1–1	1–1	0–0	—	3–0	0–1	2–1	3–1	1–4	1–0	3–0	2–1	2–1	0–1	2–1	2–1	1–2	3–1	2–1	0–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	1–0
Carlisle United	1–0	3–3	3–1	1–2	—	1–2	3–2	2–0	1–0	1–2	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	3–1	3–2	1–3	0–0	2–1	2–0	2–0	4–0	2–3	0–0
Cheltenham Town	0–2	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	—	1–0	2–0	5–3	2–1	1–3	4–1	1–0	0–0	1–2	1–1	2–0	3–2	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	4–0	3–0
Colchester United	1–1	2–0	1–2	1–1	2–1	0–0	—	1–1	1–2	1–0	2–1	2–1	2–1	2–2	1–2	0–2	3–3	0–1	1–0	0–1	2–0	3–1	2–2	2–1
Crawley Town	4–2	1–4	1–1	2–1	0–3	1–0	1–0	—	2–0	0–0	1–2	1–3	0–0	1–0	4–0	1–1	1–4	1–3	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	4–0	1–1
Exeter City	1–1	1–1	3–2	2–0	1–0	0–1	6–1	2–1	—	1–1	3–2	1–2	4–0	0–0	0–2	0–0	1–2	0–2	1–0	3–1	0–0	3–1	5–0	0–0
Forest Green Rovers	0–2	0–1	2–2	2–0	1–0	0–0	3–0	1–2	0–0	—	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–2	2–2	1–1	4–3	1–1	0–2	3–2	1–3	1–0	2–1	1–1
Grimsby Town	1–0	2–1	1–2	1–2	1–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	1–4	1–2	—	1–2	0–1	1–1	0–3	0–2	0–0	1–0	0–4	1–0	0–0	1–2	0–0	1–1
Harrogate Town	1–0	1–2	2–1	5–4	1–0	0–1	3–0	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–0	—	2–2	1–0	0–1	2–1	0–3	0–2	0–1	2–5	0–1	0–0	0–1	2–2
Leyton Orient	2–0	4–0	1–0	2–4	2–3	0–2	0–0	1–2	1–1	0–1	2–3	3–0	—	2–2	2–0	2–1	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	0–0	1–3	0–0
Mansfield Town	2–4	2–3	1–3	0–3	1–1	3–1	1–1	3–3	1–2	0–0	2–2	0–1	0–2	—	1–0	1–1	4–1	4–0	2–1	3–0	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–1
Morecambe	1–0	0–1	2–0	0–5	3–1	1–0	3–0	3–1	2–2	1–2	3–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	—	1–3	4–3	1–0	2–1	4–1	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–1
Newport County	2–1	1–0	2–1	0–1	0–0	1–0	2–1	2–0	1–1	0–2	1–0	2–1	0–1	2–1	2–1	—	2–4	1–0	0–0	4–0	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–1
Oldham Athletic	0–1	0–2	3–1	2–4	1–1	2–1	5–2	2–3	2–1	0–3	1–2	1–2	0–1	2–3	2–3	3–2	—	1–2	2–1	0–2	0–0	0–1	0–1	2–3
Port Vale	0–2	0–1	2–1	0–1	0–1	2–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	3–0	0–0	2–3	0–3	1–0	2–1	0–0	—	1–0	0–1	5–1	0–0	3–4	1–3
Salford City	1–0	0–1	3–0	4–1	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–1	2–2	0–0	1–1	2–2	3–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	—	1–1	3–0	2–1	2–2	2–0
Scunthorpe United	2–1	0–1	2–0	0–5	1–0	0–2	0–1	0–0	0–2	1–4	3–0	3–1	2–0	2–3	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	0–1	—	1–1	0–1	0–0	0–2
Southend United	1–0	0–1	1–3	1–2	0–2	0–2	2–0	0–0	2–2	0–1	3–1	0–4	2–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	1–2	0–2	0–0	1–0	—	0–0	0–2	0–0
Stevenage	2–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	3–1	0–1	0–0	3–3	0–1	3–0	0–0	1–0	0–2	0–1	2–2	0–1	3–0	2–1	0–1	3–1	0–0	—	0–0	1–1
Tranmere Rovers	1–0	2–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	0–3	0–0	0–1	2–1	3–2	5–0	3–2	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	2–2	3–1	0–0	2–0	2–0	0–1	—	1–3
Walsall	0–1	2–1	1–2	0–2	0–2	1–2	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	0–2	0–1	1–1	4–3	0–2	1–2	0–1	1–1	1–0	—

Updated to match(es) played on 8 May 2021. Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of 8 May 2021^[56]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Paul Mullin	Cambridge United	32
2	Eoin Doyle	Bolton Wanderers	19
3	Matt Jay	Exeter City	18
	James Vaughan	Tranmere Rovers
5	Ian Henderson	Salford City	17
	Danny Johnson	Leyton Orient
	Conor McAleny	Oldham Athletic
8	Jamille Matt	Forest Green Rovers	16
9	Carlos Mendes Gomes	Morecambe	15
	Jack Muldoon	Harrogate Town
	Scott Quigley	Barrow

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of EFL League Two hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Paul Mullin	Cambridge United	Morecambe	5–0	19 September 2020	[57]
Ian Henderson	Salford City	Grimsby Town	4–0	19 September 2020	[58]
Jamille Matt	Forest Green Rovers	Scunthorpe United	4–1	10 October 2020	[59]
Paul Mullin	Cambridge United	Port Vale	3–1	20 October 2020	[60]
Jevani Brown	Colchester United	Stevenage	3–1	3 November 2020	[61]
Danny Johnson	Leyton Orient	Harrogate Town	3–0	21 November 2020	[62]
Ryan Bowman	Exeter City	Colchester United	6–1	24 November 2020	[63]
Ryan Bowman	Exeter City	Tranmere Rovers	5–0	12 December 2020	[64]
Max Watters	Crawley Town	Barrow	4–2	12 December 2020	[65]
Jordan Bowery	Mansfield Town	Port Vale	4–0	2 January 2021	[66]
Matt Jay	Exeter City	Leyton Orient	4–0	6 March 2021	[67]
Brendan Kiernan	Harrogate Town	Cambridge United	5–4	30 April 2021	[68]

Awards

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Season	Paul Mullin[69]	Cambridge United

EFL League Two Team of the season

Pos.	Player	Club	Ref.
GK	Václav Hladký	Salford City	[69][70]
DF	Kyle Knoyle	Cambridge United
DF	Will Boyle	Cheltenham Town
DF	Jordan Tunnicliffe	Crawley Town
DF	Ibou Touray	Salford City
MF	David Worrall	Port Vale
MF	Antoni Sarcevic	Bolton Wanderers
MF	Wes Hoolahan	Cambridge United
MF	Chris Hussey	Cheltenham Town
FW	Matt Jay	Exeter City
FW	Paul Mullin	Cambridge United
Manager	Michael Duff	Cheltenham Town

Notes