2003 Football Conference play-off Final

2003 Football Conference play-off Final

Britannia Stadium venue of the 2003 Football Conference play-off Final
Event 2002–03 Football Conference
After extra time
Date 10 May 2003
Venue Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent
Referee Andre Marriner (Birmingham)
Attendance 13,092

The 2003 Football Conference Playoff 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 Conference playoffs which were introduced to accommodate a second promotion place to the Football League.

Match overview

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. The pitch was subsequently invaded by Doncaster Rovers fans, including one wearing an over-sized jester's hat who managed to circle the ground before being caught by police.

Details

GK 1 Tony Roberts
DF 2 Tim Cole
DF 17Lee Matthews (c)
DF 19Tarkan Mustafa
DF 4 Lee Goodwin  71'
MF 8 Paul Terry  94'
MF 26John McGrath  70'
MF 7 Mark Janney
FW 10Mark Stein
FW 9 Danny Shipp
FW 15Steve West
Substitutes:
GK 18Paul Gothard
DF 3 Ashley Vickers  71'
DF 5 Mark Smith  70'
MF 6 Steve Heffer  94'
MF 14Danny Hill
Manager:
Garry Hill
GK 1 Andy Warrington
DF 2 Simon Marples
DF 3 Tim Ryan
DF 4 Dave Morley
DF 23Steve Foster
MF 11Jamie Paterson  84'
MF 19Ricky Ravenhill
MF 20Paul Green
MF 7 Francis Tierney
FW 9 Paul Barnes (c)
MF 16Tristram Whitman  83'
Substitutes:
GK 13Stuart Nelson
DF 6 Mark Albrighton
MF 30Jason Blunt  84'
MF 5 John Doolan
FW 26Gregg Blundell  83'
Manager:
Dave Penney

Match rules

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

References

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