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Forest Green Rovers missed out on a second trip to Wembley Stadium in three years after a 1-1 play-off semi-final second leg draw with Tranmere Rovers.

Mark Cooper's side led on the night through Joseph Mills' early header, but ex-Forest Green forward James Norwood levelled with a fine volley before half-time.

Forest Green midfielder Carl Winchester was sent off for a second yellow card in the second period and it ended all-square at the New Lawn, giving Tranmere a 2-1 aggregate victory after Friday's 1-0 win at Prenton Park and they will take on Newport County AFC in the final on Saturday, May 25.

Rovers started the game in the way they would have been dreaming of the night before, having made just the one enforced change with club captain Lee Collins coming in to replace the suspended Gavin Gunning, who was sent off in the first leg.

The home side found their equalising goal on aggregate in the 12th minute with Junior Mondal whipping in a pinpoint cross that was met by Mills to nod home in an that squirmed past Scott Davies in the Tranmere goal.

Despite initially dominating, it wasn’t long before the away side found themselves back on level terms with a well-taken finish by Norwood - his 32nd of the season in all competition.

In the 27th minute, Kieron Morris nodded the ball back across to the League Two top scorer who smashed home his volley before gesturing a ‘shush’ signal to the record home crowd.

This equaliser really opened the game up and it was not long before they was another major chance to take advantage in the game before the half-time whistle blew.

Mondal was involved again as top scorer Christian Doidge played the young forward seemingly through one-on-one, but another former Forest Green player Manny Monthe was enough of the presence to stop Mondal running through on goal.

This opportunity to equalise the tie on aggregate ended what was one of the more thrilling first-halves of football played at the New Lawn this season, with the away side playing down the clock towards the end of the half.

It was the away side who had the best of the early chances of the second-half with Morris’ free-kick into the box narrowly missing a Tranmere Rovers head to arguably put the tie to bed.

However, the recently substituted George Williams had a chance through a free-kick of his own from distance.

Similar to the one he scored away at Newport earlier on in the season, the Welshman was unable to replicate his heroics then and saw his effort go just past the post.

The game began to become very scrappy and tense from both sides with very few chances for either side.

This was shown by the red card shown Winchester in the 66th minute as the midfielder was shown his second yellow of the game after a late challenge on Norwood.

Norwood had another late chance to wrap things up in the 83rd minute as a long ball forward found him able to cut inside, but his curling effort from a decent opportunity went way wide of the Forest Green goal.

Despite the man disadvantage, there was one final chance for Forest Green which came in the 89th minute as Mills wins a free-kick following good individual work down the left-hand side.

The free-kick was whipped in by Williams, before the Welshman’s cross was fought by both Doidge and Mills, however neither were able to get the right kind of connection on it and the ball trickled behind for a goal-kick as the Nailsworth side ran out of time and their best season yet ended one game earlier than they would have hoped.

There was a pitch invasion after the final whistle and Forest Green defender Nathan McGinley appeared to be struck by a Tranmere supporter.

Forest Green Rovers (4-2-3-1): L Ward, L Shephard, N McGinley, F Rawson, J Mills (C), C Winchester, L Collins (c) (S McCoulsky 80), D Grubb (L James 69), R Brown, J Mondal (G Williams 45), C Doidge. Subs not used: Montgomery, Godwin-Malife, Pearce, Digby.

Tranmere Rovers (4-2-3-1): S Davies (c), J Caprice, M Monthe, S Nelson, L Ridehalgh, D Perkins, O Banks, J Harris, K Morris (H Gilmour 65), C Jennings, J Norwood. Subs not used: Pilling, Buxton, McNulty, Smith, Pringle, Dagnall, Smith.

Attendance: 4429 (1188 away fans).

Referee: Eddie Ilderton.

Star Man: Joseph Mills.