 The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff | |||||||
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| Date | 28 May 2006 | ||||||
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| Venue | Millennium Stadium, Cardiff | ||||||
| Referee | Paul Taylor | ||||||
| Attendance | 29,196 | ||||||
The 2006 Football League Two play-off final was an association football match played on 28 May 2006 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, between Grimsby Town and Cheltenham Town. The match determined the fourth and final team to gain promotion from Football League Two, English football's fourth tier, to Football League One. The top three teams of the 2005–06 Football League Two season gained automatic promotion to League One, while the teams placed from fourth to seventh in the table took part in play-off semi-finals; the winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place for the 2006–07 season in League One. Grimsby Town finished in fourth place while Cheltenham Town ended the season in fifth position. They beat Lincoln City and Wycombe Wanderers, respectively, in the semi-finals.
The match was refereed by Paul Taylor in front of 29,196 spectators. The first half was goalless, during which both sides were forced to make a substitution after both Michael Reddy and Craig Armstrong were injured in an aerial challenge. On 63 minutes, Cheltenham took the lead after Steve Guinan shot past several defenders. Seven minutes later, Grant McCann was brought down in the Grimsby penalty area by Curtis Woodhouse and the referee awarded a penalty. McCann took the spot kick himself, but it was saved by Steve Mildenhall. The match ended 1–0 and Cheltenham secured promotion to League One.
In their following season, Grimsby finished in 15th place in League Two. Cheltenham's next season saw them end the season in 17th place in League One, four places and seven points above the relegation zone.