2003 Football Conference play-off final

The 2003 Football Conference play-off final took place on 10 May 2003 and was contested between Dagenham & Redbridge and Doncaster Rovers. It was held at the Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent and was the inaugural final of the Football Conference playoffs which were introduced to accommodate a second promotion place to the Football League.

Match

Summary

Doncaster had much of the play early on in the match with Tony Roberts in the Daggers goal making a number of good saves, notably from Paul Barnes. Doncaster turned up the pressure and should have taken the lead through Steve Foster, whose header was cleared off the line by John McGrath. However they took a deserved lead when Tim Ryan's cross was headed into the net by Paul Green.

Ten minutes into the second half Doncaster were two goals in front thanks to Dave Morley's header, which a Dagenham defender got an inadvertent hand to, with the ball rebounding in off the post. Dagenham battled on and got a goal back through Mark Stein, who netted after a knock down from target man Steve West. They then levelled the scores when Tarkan Mustafa scored arguably the goal of the game. He received a good ball from Paul Terry on the right, ran at the Rovers defence and shot past Andy Warrington into the far corner of the net.

Extra time was needed and, with legs tiring, it was Doncaster who got the golden goal. Paul Barnes broke away on the left and crossed for Francis Tierney, who sidefooted home to send his team back into the Football League. It is the only time in UK football that promotion has been decided by the controversial golden goal method, officially known as "Promotion Goal" in this match. The pitch was subsequently invaded by Doncaster Rovers fans, including one wearing an oversized jester's hat who managed to circle the ground before being caught by police.

Details

GK 1 Tony Roberts DF 2 Tim Cole DF 17 Lee Matthews (c) Template:Yel DF 19 Tarkan Mustafa DF 4 Lee Goodwin downward-facing red arrow 71' MF 8 Paul Terry downward-facing red arrow 94' MF 26 John McGrath downward-facing red arrow 70' MF 7 Mark Janney FW 10 Mark Stein FW 9 Danny Shipp FW 15 Steve West Substitutes: GK 18 Paul Gothard DF 3 Ashley Vickers upward-facing green arrow 71' DF 5 Mark Smith upward-facing green arrow 70' MF 6 Steve Heffer upward-facing green arrow 94' MF 14 Danny Hill Manager: Garry Hill

GK 1 Andy Warrington DF 2 Simon Marples DF 3 Tim Ryan DF 4 Dave Morley DF 23 Steve Foster MF 11 Jamie Paterson downward-facing red arrow 84' MF 19 Ricky Ravenhill Template:Yel MF 20 Paul Green MF 7 Francis Tierney FW 9 Paul Barnes (c) MF 16 Tristram Whitman downward-facing red arrow 83' Substitutes: GK 13 Stuart Nelson DF 6 Mark Albrighton MF 30 Jason Blunt upward-facing green arrow 84' MF 5 John Doolan FW 26 Gregg Blundell upward-facing green arrow 83' Manager: Dave Penney

Match rules: 90 minutes. 30 minutes of golden-goal extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Five named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions.