 Doncaster Rovers celebrate being promoted to theEFL Championship atWembley Stadium | |||||||
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| Date | 25 May 2008 | ||||||
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| Venue | Wembley Stadium, London | ||||||
| Referee | Andy D'Urso (Essex) | ||||||
| Attendance | 75,132 | ||||||
←2007 2009 → | |||||||
The2008 Football League One play-off final was anassociation football match which was played on 25 May 2008 atWembley Stadium, London, betweenDoncaster Rovers andLeeds United to determine the third and final team to gainpromotion fromFootball League One to theFootball League Championship. The top two teams of the2007–08 Football League One season,Swansea City andNottingham Forest gained automatic promotion, although the latter only achieving second place due to Leeds United's deduction of 15 points for exiting administration. while those placed from third to sixth in the table took part in play-off semi-finals. The winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place for the2008–09 season in the Championship. The losing semi-finalists wereCarlisle United andSouthend United.
The game was played in front of 75,132 spectators and wasrefereed byAndy D'Urso. After a goalless first half, Doncaster'sJames Hayter scored with aheader from aBrian Stockcorner. The match ended 1–0 to Doncaster, who were thus promoted to the Championship after four seasons in League One.
Leeds finished thefollowing season in fourth place in League One and qualified for theplay-offs, where they lost in the semi-finals toMillwall. Doncaster'snext season ended with them in fourteenth position in the Championship.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Swansea City | 46 | 27 | 11 | 8 | 82 | 42 | +40 | 92 |
| 2 | Nottingham Forest | 46 | 22 | 16 | 8 | 64 | 32 | +32 | 82 |
| 3 | Doncaster Rovers | 46 | 23 | 11 | 12 | 65 | 41 | +24 | 80 |
| 4 | Carlisle United | 46 | 23 | 11 | 12 | 64 | 46 | +18 | 80 |
| 5 | Leeds United | 46 | 27 | 10 | 9 | 72 | 38 | +34 | 76[a] |
| 6 | Southend United | 46 | 22 | 10 | 14 | 70 | 55 | +15 | 76 |
Doncaster Rovers finished the regular2007–08 season in third place inFootball League One, the third tier of theEnglish football league system, two positions ahead ofLeeds United. Both therefore missed out on the two automatic places forpromotion to theFootball League Championship and instead took part in theplay-offs to determine the third promoted team. Doncaster Rovers finished two points behindNottingham Forest (who were promoted in second place) and twelve behind league winnersSwansea City. Leeds United ended the season four points behind Doncaster Rovers;[1] before the start of the season, Leeds had been given a fifteen point deduction for "breaching rules on insolvency".[2] Their manager,Dennis Wise, resigned in January 2008 and was replaced byGary McAllister who confirmed that "the job brief is promotion."[3]
Leeds United facedCarlisle United in their play-off semi-final with the first match of thetwo-legged tie being played atElland Road in Leeds on 12 May 2008. The visitors took the lead on 32 minutes when avolley fromSimon Hackney was deflected offDanny Graham into the Leeds net. Five minutes into the second halfMarc Bridge-Wilkinson, the Carlisle midfielder, sidefooted inEvan Horwood's lowcross to make it 2–0.Keiren Westwood, the Carlisle goalkeeper, made a number of saves in a performance which the BBC's Mandeep Sanghera called "heroic".[4] However, he was beaten five minutes into stoppage time whenJermaine Beckford scored from afree kick to make the final score 2–1.[4] The second leg of the play-off semi-final took place three days later atBrunton Park in Carlisle.Jonny Howson opened the scoring on 10 minutes for the away side to level theaggregate score at 2–2. Carlisle had a number of chances in the second half but could not convert any, and in the 90th minute, Howson scored his and Leeds' second from 18 yards (16 m): the game ended 2–0 to Leeds who progressed to the Wembley play-off final with a 3–2 aggregate victory.[5]
In the other play-off semi-final, Doncaster Rovers facedSouthend United and the first leg took place atRoots Hall in Southend-on-Sea on 9 May 2008. The home side dominated the first half but after the break, Doncaster'sJason Price missed several chances.Paul Heffernan wassent off for headbutting Southend'sPeter Clarke after they tangled in atackle with three minutes to go and the match finished goalless.[6] The second leg was held a week later at theKeepmoat Stadium in Doncaster. The visitors hit the crossbar in the opening minutes through aJames Walker strike but Doncaster took the lead on 11 minutes with apenalty fromBrian Stock.Adam Barrett scored anown goal ten minutes later beforeJames Coppinger struck a third to see the home side leading 3–0 at half-time. Coppinger completed hishat-trick with two more goals after the interval and with a consolation goal from Southend'sNicky Bailey made it 5–1 to Doncaster at the final whistle.[7]
Doncaster had played in the third tier of English football since gaining promotion from theThird Division as champions in the2003–04 season.[8] They had not featured in a league play-off final, although they won the2003 Football Conference play-off final to secure their place back in the Football League.[8] Doncaster had also never played a competitive match atWembley Stadium.[8] Leeds were relegated to League One the previous season, having also been deducted ten points for entering administration.[9] The club had featured in two play-off finals prior to 2008: they lost the1987 Football League Second Division play-off final toCharlton Athletic and were defeated byWatford in the2006 Football League Championship play-off final.[9] The last visit Leeds had paid to the national stadium was for the1996 Football League Cup Final which they lost 3–0 againstAston Villa.[9] During the regular season, both games between the sides resulted in away wins: Doncaster won 1–0 at Elland Road in January 2008 while Leeds secured a 1–0 victory at the Keepmoat Stadium the following April.[10] Doncaster's top scorer going into the play-offs was Hayter with nine goals (seven in the league and two in theFA Cup).[11] Beckford was leading scorer for Leeds with twenty goals, followed byTrésor Kandol with eleven.[12]
Thereferee for the match wasAndy D'Urso representing theEssex County Football Association. Both teams started the final with line-ups unchanged from their respective semi-final second leg matches. The BBC reported that Leeds had sold their full ticket allocation of 36,000 while Doncaster had sold 24,000.[13] According to author Daniel Chapman, Leeds fans queued overnight for the chance to buy tickets, and that "by dawn there were 7,000 in a tired, hungry and angry scrum".[14] Doncaster played in red-and-white hooped shirts while Leeds wore whitekit.[13]
The match kicked off around 3 p.m. on 25 May 2008 in front of 75,132 spectators.[15] Within a minute, the Leeds defenderBradley Johnson's shot cleared the Doncaster crossbar. On six minutes, Price's shot from 6 yards (5.5 m) was blocked by Leeds beforeRichie Wellens struck the ball into the side netting.Casper Ankergren then made a save at Coppinger's feet before denying Hayter after Doncaster had beaten theoffside trap. On 15 minutes,Matt Mills became the first player of the afternoon to be shown ayellow card for a foul on Beckford. In the 17th minute, Beckford's 20-yard (18 m) strike was saved in the Doncaster goal byNeil Sullivan. Ten minutes later,David Prutton was booked for a latetackle. Leeds increased the pressure and in the 31st minute Beckford's weak shot was saved by Sullivan. Five minutes before half time, Hayter's strike flew over the Leeds crossbar before Howson's curling shot passed narrowly outside the Doncaster post. The half was brought to a close with the score at 0–0.[13]
Neither side made any changes to their personnel during the half-time interval, and Doncaster won an early free kick which Coppinger struck into thedefensive wall. In the 48th minute, Hayter put Doncaster ahead: Stock played in an outswinging corner which Hayter scored with a diving header to make it 1–0. Three minutes later, Beckford's shot was saved by Sullivan low to his right. On 60 minutes, Howson's strike from 20 yards (18 m) was off-target. Twelve minutes later, Leeds made the firstsubstitution of the game with Prutton being replaced by Kandol. Coppinger was then stopped byJonathan Douglas beforeMark McCammon came on for Wellens. With around twelve minutes remaining,Dougie Freedman's shot went wide and he was soon after replaced byAndrew Hughes. Two minutes later, Price was replaced byAdam Lockwood before Sullivan was booked for time-wasting. Doncaster then made their final substitution of the match with Coppinger being replaced byLewis Guy. Douglas then saw his 20-yard (18 m) half-volley fly just wide of the Doncaster goal and after four minutes of stoppage time, the final whistle was blown.[13]
| Doncaster Rovers | 1–0 | Leeds United |
|---|---|---|
Hayter 48' | (Report) |
        Doncaster Rovers |    Leeds United |
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Hayter said: "It is an unbelievable feeling to score the winner. I have been dreaming about it all week."[13] The DoncastermanagerSean O'Driscoll suggested that he "could murder a cup of tea" while his opposite number McAllister suggested his team "huffed and puffed but our quality wasn't quite there today. We lost a poor goal."[13] The Leeds goalkeeper Ankergren reflected "maybe in a few days we'll realise the achievement ... but right now we're standing here with nothing."[14]
Leeds finished thefollowing season in fourth place in League One and qualified for theplay-offs, where they lost in the semi-finals toMillwall.[16][17] Doncaster'snext season ended with them in fourteenth position in the Championship.[18]
