| Event | 1998–99 Football League Second Division | ||||||
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| Manchester City won 3–1 on penalties | |||||||
| Date | 30 May 1999 | ||||||
| Venue | Wembley Stadium, London | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Vince Bartram[1] (Gillingham) | ||||||
| Referee | Mark Halsey | ||||||
| Attendance | 76,935 | ||||||
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← 1998
2000 →
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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.
The match was Gillingham's first ever appearance at Wembley.[2] Manchester City, by comparison, had played there on eleven previous occasions in FA Cup and Football League Cup finals.[3] The teams reached the final by defeating Preston North End and Wigan Athletic respectively in the semi-finals.
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.[4]
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 as a crucial first step in the club's revival from the third tier of English football to its current status as Premier League title contenders, Champions League qualifiers, and arguably the richest club in the world. 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. In a strange coincidence, the Gillingham keeper he scored past, Vince Bartram, had also been the best man at Dickov's wedding. 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.
| 30 May 1999 15:00 BST |
Manchester City | 2 – 2 | Gillingham | Wembley, London Attendance: 76,935 Referee: Mark Halsey |
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| Horlock 90' Dickov 90+5' |
(Report) | Asaba 81' Taylor 87' |
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| Penalties | ||||
| Horlock Dickov Cooke Edghill |
3–1 | Smith Pennock Hodge Butters |
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Manchester City
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Gillingham
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MATCH RULES
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