Mansfield Town's Oliver Hawkins was then sent off after being shown two yellow cards in the space of five minutes to reduce his team to ten players.

[1] Northampton Town dropped to fourth position in the table on the final day of regular season despite winning 3–1 at Barrow, as Bristol Rovers defeated bottom club Scunthorpe United 7–0 to secure automatic promotion on goals scored.

Rhys Oates gave the home side an early lead when he struck the ball into the Northampton Town goal through goalkeeper Jonny Maxted's legs.

Midway through the second half, Northampton Town halved the deficit when Ali Koiki scored after a pass from Louis Appéré, and the match ended 2–1.

Midway through the first half, Harry McKirdy gave the home side the lead, scoring with a header from a corner from Jonny Williams.

He doubled his side's advantage in the 68th minute: Port Vale goalkeeper Aidan Stone saved a shot from Jack Payne but the ball rebounded to McKirdy who scored.

Swindon Town goalkeeper Lewis Ward saved penalties from both David Worrall and Ryan Edmondson but McKirdy's strike went high over the crossbar.

[6] After the shoot-out, a crowd of supporters invaded the pitch, with Swindon Town manager Ben Garner stating that his players had been "verbally and physically abused".

[11] In the league games between the sides during the regular season, Port Vale secured a 1–1 draw away at the One Call Stadium in October 2021 before winning 3–1 at home the following March.

[17] Port Vale made no changes to their starting eleven from the side who played in the second leg of the play-off semi-final while Mansfield brought in Murphy and Matty Longstaff.

"[18] Andy Crosby, Port Vale's assistant manager, led his side out for the final, having covered for Clarke during his absence earlier in the season.

On 19 minutes, John-Joe O'Toole conceded possession of the ball midway inside his own half allowing Port Vale's Ben Garrity to pass to Harratt whose long-range shot struck the bottom of the Mansfield Town goalpost.

With three minutes of regular time in the half remaining, Connor Hall cleared a close-range shot from Bowery after a mistake from Stone.

In first-half injury time, James Perch was shown a yellow card for late tackle on Garrity but the resulting free kick Wilson went narrowly outside the post.

In the 70th minute, Port Vale had a second disallowed goal after Charsley struck the ball into the net from a curling Worrall cross: the recent substitute was deemed to have been offside.

Reflecting on the season and his personal life, Port Vale manager Clarke said "With all we’ve come through, to put in that performance in the manner we did was outstanding.