2008 Football League Championship play-off Final

2008 Football League Championship play-off final
Bristol City Hull City
0 1
Date 24 May 2008
Venue Wembley Stadium, London
Man of the Match Dean Windass
Referee Alan Wiley
Attendance 86,703

The 2008 Football League Championship play-off Final was contested between Bristol City and Hull City. The match was won by Hull City through a 38th-minute goal from Dean Windass. The victory meant that this was the first time in the history of Hull City that they would be competing in the top flight of English Football. The match took place on 24 May 2008 in Wembley Stadium, London.

Route to the final

Pos
 Team
 Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
Promotion or relegation
1 West Bromwich Albion (C) (P) 46 23 12 11 88 55+33 81 Promotion to Premier League
2 Stoke City (P) 46 21 16 9 69 55+14 79
3 Hull City 46 21 12 13 65 47+18 75 Qualification to League Championship playoffs
4 Bristol City 46 20 14 12 54 53+1 74
5 Crystal Palace 46 18 17 11 58 42+16 71
6 Watford 46 18 16 12 62 56+6 70

Updated to games played on 4 May 2008.
Source: The Football League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

In the regular season of the 2007-08 Championship, the top 2 teams won promotion to the 2008-09 Premier League automatically. West Bromwich Albion and Stoke City were the top 2, with West Brom promoted as division champions.[1] The 4 teams placed immediately below the top 2 qualified for the Play-offs to determine the final promotion place.

Hull City

Hull City finished 3rd in the Championship, the highest of the teams in the play-offs. It was possible for them to get promoted on the final day of the regular season, but lost to Ipswich Town. Despite a final day loss, they were one of the in-form sides going into the play-offs. They faced Watford in the play-off semi-finals. Watford finished 6th, the lowest of all the play-off positions. Hull beat Watford 2–0 away in the first leg,[2] and also won the second leg at home, by a 4–1 scoreline.[3]

11 May 2008
12:30
Watford 0 – 2 Hull City
(Report) Barmby  8'
Windass  27'
Vicarage Road, Watford, Hertfordshire
Attendance: 14,173
Referee: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire)

14 May 2008
19:45
Hull City 4 – 1 Watford
Barmby  43'
Folan  70'
Garcia  88'
Doyle  90' 		(Report) Henderson  12'
KC Stadium, Kingston-upon-Hull
Attendance: 23,155
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear)

Bristol City

Bristol City finished 4th in the Championship. They had a strong season, staying in the top 6 from the start of September until the end of the season. Having been promoted to the Championship from League One in 2006-07, they were attempting to become the first team to win successive promotions from the 3rd to 1st tiers since Watford in 1998-99. They faced Crystal Palace in the play-off semi-finals, who finished 5th. Bristol City won the first leg 2–1.[4] Crystal Palace led the second leg 1–0 after the regulation 90 minutes to level the aggregate scores and force the tie into extra time. Bristol City scored twice in the extra time period to progress 4–2 on aggregate.[5]

10 May 2008
12:30
Crystal Palace 1 – 2 Bristol City
Watson  87' (pen.) (Report) Carey  53'
Noble  90+2.'
Selhurst Park, Croydon, London
Attendance: 22,869
Referee: Michael Jones (Cheshire)

13 May 2008
19:45
Bristol City 2 – 1 (a.e.t.) Crystal Palace
Trundle  104'
McIndoe  110' 		(Report) Watson  24'
Ashton Gate Stadium, Bristol
Attendance: 18,842
Referee: Howard Webb (Yorkshire)

Match summary

The match was a largely even affair, with Hull-born Dean Windass scoring the only goal at the first half. Towards the end of the game, Bristol City put Hull under a lot of attacking pressure, and Hull City needed Michael Turner to clear Lee Trundle's effort off the line with 5 minutes to go to keep their lead. Hull City held on to win a place in the top flight of English football for the first time in their 104-year history.

Post-match reaction

Hull City manager Phil Brown said "It is very fitting that Dean Windass got the winning goal, I think it was written in the Gods that it would be Dean Windass or Nicky Barmby who would get the winner today.". Goalscorer Windass said that "It feels unbelievable. I don't think there is anyone left in Hull today looking at how many supporters we've got here." Hull City chairman Paul Duffen said "This is fantastic, I think it's amazing. It is something which means a lot to the city of Hull."

Bristol City manager Gary Johnson congratulated Hull, and said that Bristol City would "Bounce back" in the following years. Bristol City chairman Steve Lansdown said that "It's been a great day out for Bristol City football club - it doesn't feel like it at the moment but the future's there and I think we've shown over the last few weeks what this football club can achieve."

Match details

24 May 2008
15:00
Bristol City 0 – 1 Hull City
(Report) Windass  38'
Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 86,703
Referee: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire)
Bristol City
Hull City
BRISTOL CITY:
GK 1 Brazil Adriano Basso
RB 2 England Bradley Orr  45+'
CB 6 Scotland Louis Carey (c)
CB 4 England Liam Fontaine
LB 3 Scotland Jamie McAllister
RM 8 Scotland David Noble  63'
CM 25England Marvin Elliott
CM 10Australia Nick Carle  76'
LM 11Scotland Michael McIndoe
CF 35Nigeria Dele Adebola
CF 23England Lee Trundle
Substitutes:
GK 13England Chris Weale
DF 19Hungary Tamás Vaskó
MF 33England Lee Johnson  45+'
MF 29Northern Ireland Ivan Sproule  77'  63'
FW 34Jamaica Darren Byfield  76'
Manager:
England Gary Johnson
HULL CITY:
GK 1 Wales Boaz Myhill
RB 21Wales Sam Ricketts
CB 15England Wayne Brown
CB 6 England Michael Turner
LB 3 England Andy Dawson
RM 14Australia Richard Garcia
CM 4 England Ian Ashbee (c)
CM 11England Bryan Hughes
LM 8 England Nick Barmby  67'
CF 25England Fraizer Campbell  90+3'  90+3'
CF 9 England Dean Windass  71'
Substitutes:
GK 12England Matt Duke
DF 2 England Nathan Doyle
MF 22England Dean Marney  90+3'
FW 18Republic of Ireland Caleb Folan  71'
FW 23England Craig Fagan  67'
Manager:
England Phil Brown

Match rules

  • 90 minutes.
  • 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary.
  • Penalty shootout if scores still level.
  • 5 named substitutes.
  • Maximum of 3 substitutions.

Statistics

Bristol City Hull City
Total shots 21 11
Shots on target 13 4
Ball possession 49% 51%
Corner kicks 2 1
Fouls committed 17 11
Offsides 3 1
Yellow cards 1 1
Red cards 0 0

Source: ESPN[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Final 2007/2008 Football League Championship Table". soccerbase.com. Racing Post. Retrieved 16 May 2009.
  2. ↑ McKenzie, Andrew (11 May 2008). "Watford 0-2 Hull". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 5 June 2009. Retrieved 16 May 2009.
  3. ↑ McNulty, Phil (14 May 2008). "Hull 4-1 Watford (agg 6-1)". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 31 March 2009. Retrieved 16 May 2009.
  4. ↑ Hughes, Ian (10 May 2008). "Crystal Palace 1-2 Bristol City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 May 2009.
  5. ↑ Harlow, Phil (13 May 2008). "Bristol C 2-1 C Palace (agg 4-2)". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 May 2009.
  6. ↑ "Hull head for Premier League". ESPN Soccernet. 24 May 2008. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
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