1999 Football League Second Division play-off Final

1999 Football League Second Division play-off Final

Event	1998–99 Football League Second Division
Manchester City Gillingham 2 2
Manchester City won 3–1 on penalties
Date	30 May 1999
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Man of the Match	Vince Bartram (Gillingham)
Referee	Mark Halsey (Lancashire)
Attendance	76,935
← 1998 2000 →

The 1999 Football League Second Division playoff final was a football match played at Wembley Stadium on 30 May 1999, to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from the Second Division to the First Division of The Football League in the 1998–99 season. Gillingham faced Manchester City.

Route to the final

Football League Division Two final table, leading positions

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1.	Fulham	46	31	8	7	79	32	101
2.	Walsall	46	26	9	11	63	47	87
3.	Manchester City	46	22	16	8	69	33	82
4.	Gillingham	46	22	14	10	75	44	80
Pos=Position P=Games played W=Wins D=Draws L=Defeats F=Goals for A=Goals against Pts=Points

The match was Gillingham's first ever appearance at the Wembley Stadium. Manchester City, by comparison, had played there on eleven previous occasions in FA Cup and Football League Cup finals. The teams reached the final by defeating Preston North End and Wigan Athletic respectively in the semi-finals.

Manchester City				Gillingham
Opponent	Result	Legs	Round	Opponent	Result	Legs
Wigan Athletic	2–1	1–1 away; 1–0 home	Semi-finals	Preston North End	2–1	1–1 away; 1–0 home

Match summary

The match was scoreless until approximately nine minutes from the end, when Carl Asaba gave Gillingham the lead. Robert Taylor added a second five minutes later. With only a few minutes of normal time left, and two goals behind in the game, many City fans considered the game had been lost and began to make their way to the exits. However, Kevin Horlock scored for City to halve the deficit in the 90th minute and, in the fifth minute of added time, Paul Dickov scored an equaliser to send the game into extra time. With no further goals being scored, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out, which City won to gain promotion.

Given the match's importance as a final to determine league promotion and the highly unlikely turnaround in the final minutes, the game has been regarded as one of the most exciting in English football history and highlights of the game have been repeatedly shown on television. Manchester City fans also regard the game^{[citation needed]} as a crucial first step in the club's revival from the third tier of English football to its current status as yearly contenders for the Premier League championship. Gillingham, under new manager Peter Taylor, returned to the play-offs the following year and this time won in extra-time against Wigan. Dickov's goal (after four minutes and nine seconds of injury time) remains the latest goal ever scored prior to the final whistle in a match at the old Wembley Stadium.^{[citation needed]} In a strange coincidence, the Gillingham keeper he scored past, Vince Bartram, had also been the best man at Dickov's wedding.^{[citation needed]} Prior to City's first goal, Bartram had been awarded the man of the match award for making several important saves. Manchester City keeper Nicky Weaver saved two Gillingham penalties and, following his save from Guy Butters which sealed the victory, waved towards his team-mates to join him, but then ran towards the City fans, jumped over an advertising hoarding, and ran half the full length of the pitch before coming back into the centre circle where his team-mates jumped on top of him in celebration.

Match

Details

30 May 1999 15:00 BST	Manchester City	2–2 (a.e.t.)	Gillingham	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 76,935 Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)
	Horlock  90' Dickov  90+5'	Report	Asaba  81' Taylor  87'
		Penalties
	Horlock Dickov Cooke Edghill	3–1	Smith Pennock Hodge Butters

Manchester City

Gillingham

GK 1 Nicky Weaver RB 2 Lee Crooks  85' LB 3 Richard Edghill CB 4 Gerard Wiekens CB 5 Andy Morrison (c)  61' LM 6 Kevin Horlock CM 7 Michael Brown  61' CM 8 Jeff Whitley CF 9 Paul Dickov CF 10 Shaun Goater RM 11 Terry Cooke Substitutes: FW 12 Gareth Taylor  85' DF 13 Tony Vaughan  61' MF 14 Ian Bishop  61' Manager: Joe Royle

GK 1 Vince Bartram RWB 2 Nicky Southall CB 3 Barry Ashby CM 4 Paul Smith CB 5 Guy Butters CB 6 Adrian Pennock LWB 7 Mark Patterson  105' CM 8 Andy Hessenthaler (c) CF 9 Carl Asaba  87' CM 10 Mick Galloway  56' CF 11 Robert Taylor Substitutes: MF 12 John Hodge  105' MF 13 Mark Saunders  56' DF 14 Darren Carr  87' Manager: Tony Pulis

Man of the Match: Vince Bartram (Gillingham)

MATCH RULES 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. Penalty shootout if scores still level. Five named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions.