.jpg) The final took place at Wembley Stadium. | |||||||
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| Date | 24 May 1998 | ||||||
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| Venue | Wembley Stadium, London | ||||||
| Referee | Terry Heilbron | ||||||
| Attendance | 62,988 | ||||||
←1997 1999 → | |||||||
The1998 Football League Second Division play-off final was anassociation football match which was played on 24 May 1998 atWembley Stadium, London, betweenGrimsby Town andNorthampton Town. The top two teams of the1997–98 Football League Second Division league,Watford andBristol City, gained automatic promotion to the First Division, while those placed from third to sixth place in the table took part inplay-offs. The winners of the play-off semi-finals competed for the final place for the1998–99 season in the First Division. The losing semi-finalists wereBristol Rovers andFulham who had been defeated by Northampton and Grimsby respectively.
The match wasrefereed by Terry Heilbron in front of a crowd of 62,988 spectators (44,250 of which were Northampton, a modern-day record at the time). After twenty minutes, Grimsby took the lead throughKevin Donovan whodribbled round the Northampton goalkeeperAndy Woodman, and struck the ball into the goal. In the second half,Jack Lester wasfouled in the Northamptonpenalty area to win apenalty kick. Donovan's spot kick was saved by Woodman to keep the game at 1–0, which remained the score at the final whistle, to see Grimsby promoted to the First Division after a single season's absence.
Grimsby'snext season finished with them in eleventh position in the First Division. Northampton ended theirfollowing season in 22nd place in the Second Division and were relegated to the Third Division for the1999–2000 season.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Watford | 46 | 24 | 16 | 6 | 67 | 41 | +26 | 88 |
| 2 | Bristol City | 46 | 25 | 10 | 11 | 69 | 39 | +30 | 85 |
| 3 | Grimsby Town | 46 | 19 | 15 | 12 | 55 | 37 | +18 | 72 |
| 4 | Northampton Town | 46 | 18 | 17 | 11 | 52 | 37 | +15 | 71 |
| 5 | Bristol Rovers | 46 | 20 | 10 | 16 | 70 | 64 | +6 | 70 |
| 6 | Fulham | 46 | 20 | 10 | 16 | 60 | 43 | +17 | 70 |
Grimsby Town finished the regular1997–98 season in third position in theSecond Division, the third tier of theEnglish football league system, one place and one point ahead ofNorthampton Town. Both therefore missed out on the two automatic places forpromotion to the First Division and instead took part in theplay-offs to determine the third promoted team. Grimsby finished thirteen points behindBristol City (who were promoted in second place) and sixteen behind league winnersWatford.[1]
Northampton's opponents for their play-off semi-final wereBristol Rovers and the first match of thetwo-legged tie took place at theMemorial Ground in Bristol on 10 May 1998.[2] Half an hour in,Peter Beadle scored with apenalty kick after beingfouled byIan Sampson, to give the home side the lead.Frankie Bennett thenheaded in acorner fromGary Penrice to double Bristol Rovers' lead seven minutes later.Barry Hayles then made it 3–0 afterdribbling past two defenders before scoring from inside the Northamptonpenalty area.John Gayle scored for the visitors in the 74th minute and the match ended 3–1 to Bristol Rovers.[3] The second leg was held three days later atSixfields in Northampton.Carl Heggs put the home side ahead in the 34th minute after heading inChris Freestone's pass back fromJohn Frain's corner.Ian Clarkson then scored from a Heggs pass in the 61st minute to level the tieon aggregate. Bristol Rovers then pressed to regain the lead butRay Warburton headed inJames Hunt's corner to give Northampton a 3–0 lead in the match and a 4–3 aggregate victory to progress to the final.[4]
Grimsby facedFulham in their semi-final with the first leg being held atCraven Cottage in London on 9 May 1998. Fulham dominated the first half, but five minutes before half-time, they were reduced to ten men whenPaul Moody was shown a straightred card for a foul onMark Lever. While Grimsby were making asubstitution to replace the injured Lever,Paul Peschisolido was fouled in the penalty area andPeter Beardsley converted the subsequent penalty to make it 1–0 to Fulham. A mistake eight minutes into the second half fromWayne Collins allowedDavid Smith to equalise for Grimsby. No further goals were scored and the match ended 1–1.[5] The second leg took place atBlundell Park near Grimsby four days later.[6] After thirty minutes, Fulham were once again down to ten players after Peschisolido was sent off for a foul onPeter Handyside. The first half ended goalless, but with less than ten minutes of the game remaining,Kevin Donovan scored pastMaik Taylor to give Grimsby a 1–0 victory and a 2–1 aggregate win.[7]
This was Northampton Town's second appearance in a play-off final, having been promoted the previous season with a 1–0 victory againstSwansea City in thefourth tier final. They had last played in the second tier of English football in the1966–67 season.[8] Grimsby Town had never featured in the play-offs and were aiming to return to the second tier after a single campaign in the third having been relegated in the1996–97 season.[9] They had also already played atWembley Stadium, their first appearance ever at the national stadium, earlier in the season: they had defeatedBournemouth 2–1 with agolden goal inextra time of thefinal of theFootball League Trophy.[10][11]
In the matches between the sides during the regular season, both teams won their home games, with Grimsby winning 1–0 at Blundell Park in October 1997 and Northampton securing a 2–1 victory the following February at Sixfields.[12] The top scorer for Grimsby during the regular season was Donovan with 19 goals (16 in the league, 1 in theFA Cup, 1 in theLeague Cup and 1 in theFootball League Trophy) followed byLee Nogan with 13 (8 in the league, 2 in the FA Cup, 1 in the League Cup and 2 in the Football League Trophy).[13]David Seal led the scoring for Northampton with 14 goals during the season (12 in the league, 1 in the FA Cup and 1 in the League Cup) followed byChris Freestone with 13 (11 in the league and 2 in the Football League Trophy).[14]
Thereferee for the match, which was broadcast live in the United Kingdom onSky Sports, was Terry Heilbron.[15][16] According to theBBC, Grimsby were favourites to gain promotion.[17] Grimsby played in a4–4–2 formation while Northampton adopted3–5–2.[18]Roy Hunter andSean Parrish were long-term injuries for Northampton but otherwise, theirmanagerIan Atkins had a full-strength squad.[17]
The matchkicked off around 3 p.m. on 24 May 1998 at Wembley Stadium in front of a crowd of 62,988.[15] After twenty minutes, Grimsby took the lead through Donovan: he received a pass fromWayne Burnett, dribbled round the Northampton goalkeeperAndy Woodman, and struck the ball into the goal. Three minutes later,Jack Lester's shot went wide of the Northampton goal. Freestone's missed chance was Northampton's best opportunity to score of the half.[19] According to Trevor Haylett, writing inThe Guardian, Donovan's goal was "the only highlight of a dreadfully dull first half."[20] Northampton started the second half the stronger of the teams missing two chances in as many minutes.[19] Soon after the hour mark, Donovan misjudged a backpass and Freestone took possession of the ball before roundingAidan Davison, the Grimsby goalkeeper, but missed from a tight angle.[20] In the 78th minute, Lester was fouled in the Northampton penalty area to win a penalty. Donovan's spot kick was saved by Woodman to keep the game at 1–0.[19] Five minute later,Paul Groves hit the Northampton crossbar but with no change the score, the match ended 1–0 and Grimsby were promoted to the First Division after a single season's absence.[19][20]
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Despite the victory,Alan Buckley, the Grimsby manager, was not an aficionado of the post-season decider, saying "Anybody who says they enjoy play-offs aren't football managers."[19] The Northampton manager Atkins said he believed that some of the match's pivotal decisions had not favoured his side: "If you get a decision against you in these games it can kill you."[19]
Grimsby'snext season finished with them in eleventh position in the First Division.[21] Northampton ended theirfollowing season in 22nd place in the Second Division and were relegated to the Third Division for the1999–2000 season.[22]
