The 2022 EFL League One play-off final was an association football match between Wycombe Wanderers and Sunderland on 21 May 2022 at Wembley Stadium, London.
[2] Seven minutes before half-time, Wycombe Wanderers took the lead when Ryan Tafazolli scored from close range with a header from a Joe Jacobson corner.
Midway through the second half, Josh McEachran was sent off after being shown two yellow cards within seven minutes, reducing the visiting side to ten players.
Jason McCarthy's shot then hit the Milton Keynes Dons' crossbar before Vokes doubled Wycombe Wanderers' lead in the 82nd minute with a header from a Garath McCleary cross, and the match ended 2–0.
The game remained goalless until injury time in the first half when Ross Stewart took the ball from Sam Hutchinson before scoring from a tight angle, his 25th goal of the season.
The first half ended goalless before Sheffield Wednesday took the lead and levelled the tie in the 74th minute: Barry Bannan passed to Marvin Johnson whose cross was struck into the Sunderland goal from close range by Lee Gregory.
Sheffield Wednesday began to dominate the match but three minutes into second-half injury time, Jack Clarke passed to Patrick Roberts who scored from close range.
[14] In the matches between the sides during the regular season, Sunderland won 3–1 at the Stadium of Light in August 2021 and the fixture at Adams Park the following January ended in a 3–3 draw.
[16] The final was refereed by Simon Hooper (representing the Wiltshire Football Association),[10] with Adam Crysell and Craig Taylor as his assistants, and Tim Robinson the fourth official.
In May 2022, the EFL had announced that for the first time, the video assistant referee system would be used at all play-off finals, and Lee Mason was appointed in this role.
[20] Sunderland's head coach Alex Neil made one change for his side's starting line-up from the second leg of their play-off semi-final, with Elliot Embleton being selected ahead of Jack Clarke.
In the 12th minute, Embleton took possession of the ball around half-way and dribbled forward uncontested to take a shot from outside the Wycombe Wanderers' penalty area which beat David Stockdale to give Sunderland a 1–0 lead.
A minute in, Sunderland's Dennis Cirkin was shown a yellow card for a foul but the resulting free kick was cleared.
Wycombe Wanderers dominated the early stages of the half before Ross Stewart's 52nd minute header from a Pritchard cross passed just wide of the goalpost.
With fourteen minutes of the match remaining, Wycombe Wanderers made their final substitution with Adebayo Akinfenwa coming on in place of Dominic Gape.
[22] Sunderland's head coach Neil said that he believed his side deserved the victory: "Wycombe have done great this season but we came into the game knowing a lot of people had heavily backed us and made us favourites.