Image Credits: Imago Images
Wembley has seen many dramatic afternoons in its storied history, but Sunday’s National League promotion final between Rochdale and Boreham Wood delivered the kind of football theatre that reminds you why the sport holds such a grip on the imagination.
A two-goal deficit with 13 minutes remaining.
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A comeback engineered in the chaos of stoppage time.
A penalty shootout decided by a goalkeeper making saves he described as among the best of his career.
And at the centre of it all, a manager who guided his side through the entire rollercoaster with the kind of calm authority that only comes from having lived every corner of football’s ruthless ecosystem — including its very beginnings at one of the most famous academies in the world.
After three years away, three years after their 102-year stay in the Football League was ended in heartbreaking fashion, they return to the EFL for the 2026/27 season, and the manner of their return was as dramatic as the manner of their departure.
The match itself was a masterclass in the cruelty and redemption that non-league football produces better than anywhere else.
Boreham Wood led 2-0 with 13 minutes remaining, goals from Matt Rush which his 26th of the season, and the outstanding Abdul Abdulmalik, who was named player of the match, seemingly putting the Hertfordshire side on the cusp of their first-ever EFL promotion.
Rush had opened the scoring on 22 minutes, deflecting Abdulmalik’s cross home with his chest, before Abdulmalik himself fired through a crowd from a corner on 69 minutes to double the advantage.
Then Rochdale did what Rochdale have made a habit of doing this season.
Substitute Tyler Smith pulled one back on 78 minutes, collecting a Whatmuff clearance on the edge of the box and finishing coolly.
And then, deep into seven minutes of added time, Mani Dieseruvwe, who scored in the 103rd minute against York City on the final day of the regular season only to concede an equaliser seconds later, headed home Casey Pettit’s cross to make it 2-2 and send the east end of Wembley into raptures.
It was Dieseruvwe’s fifth goal against Boreham Wood this season, and the third he had scored in stoppage time across the last four games.
In the shootout, on-loan Manchester City goalkeeper Oliver Whatmuff was the hero — saving from Callum Reynolds and Matt Rush before Cameron Coxe struck the crossbar with Wood’s fourth penalty to confirm Rochdale’s 3-1 win on spot-kicks.
The man orchestrating the celebrations from the touchline was Jimmy McNulty — Rochdale’s first-team manager, and a man whose connection to this story stretches back to the very beginning of a life in football.
McNulty, born in 1985, joined the Liverpool Academy in 2001 at the age of 16.
He spent one full season at Kirkby, developing as a left-footed centre-back and working within the same youth structures that have produced some of English football’s most prominent players.
After that season, he joined the Everton Academy in 2002 before signing his first professional contract with Wrexham in 2003, marking the beginning of a long Football League career.
He later became a key figure at Rochdale, making nearly 200 appearances and earning a place as one of the club’s most respected players before moving into management.
Sunday marked the culmination of everything he has built at Spotland, with the team finishing the regular season on an impressive 106 points.
After having automatic promotion cruelly denied by York City’s 103rd-minute equaliser on the final day, they refused to let that heartbreak define their campaign.
For McNulty, it is a deeply personal triumph.
For Rochdale, it is a return to where they belong.
And for anyone who watched Sunday’s final, it was a reminder of why football, at every level, never stops delivering.