1993 Football League Second Division play-off Final

1993 Football League Second Division play-off Final

Winner
West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion F.C. West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...
Runner-up
Port Vale Port Vale F.C. Port Vale Football Club is an English football club currently playing in Football League Two. They are based in Burslem, Staffordshire — one of six towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The club's traditional rivals in the city are Stoke City, and games between the two clubs are known as...
Score
3–0
Date
30 May 1993
Venue
Wembley Stadium

The 1993 Football League Second Division play-off Final was a football match played at Wembley Stadium on 30 May 1993, to determine the third and final team to gain promotion

Promotion and relegation

In many sports leagues around the world, promotion and relegation is a process that takes place at the end of each season. Through it, teams are transferred between divisions based on their performance that season...

from the Third Division

Football League Third Division

The Football League Third Division was the 3 tier of English Football from 1920 until 1992 when after the formation of the Football Association Premier League saw the league renamed The Football League Division Two...

to the Second Division

Football League Second Division

From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...

of The Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

in the 1992–93 season. Port Vale

Port Vale F.C.

Port Vale Football Club is an English football club currently playing in Football League Two. They are based in Burslem, Staffordshire — one of six towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The club's traditional rivals in the city are Stoke City, and games between the two clubs are known as...

faced West Bromwich Albion

West Bromwich Albion F.C.

West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...

.

West Brom had no experience of the play-offs before 1993, while Vale had gone though the Second Division play-offs 2–1 on aggregate four years previous

1989 Football League Third Division play-off Final

The 1989 Football League Third Division play-off final was a two-legged football match played at on 31 May and 3 June 1989, to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from the Third Division to the Second Division of The Football League in the 1988–89 season. Port Vale faced Bristol...

and whilst they had lost Robbie Earle

Robbie Earle

Robert Fitzgerald "Robbie" Earle MBE is an English-born Jamaican former international footballer who played as a midfielder. He played 578 league games in senior club football, scoring 136 goals....

since then, new signing Martin Foyle

Martin Foyle

Martin John Foyle is an English former footballer, turned football manager. In his 20 year playing career he played 533 League games, scoring 155 goals...

gave the team strong hopes of coming home the victors. In the semi-finals, Vale eased passed Stockport County

Stockport County F.C.

Stockport County Football Club is an English football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The club formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, shortly afterwards merging with Heaton Norris F.C., and adopted the current name on 24 May 1890 on the creation of the County Borough of Stockport...

and West Brom vanquished Swansea City

Swansea City A.F.C.

Swansea City Association Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. One of the most successful clubs in Welsh football, it has won 10 Welsh Cups and led the English Football League First Division in December 1981, before finishing the season in 6th position...

.

The game finished with a comprehensive 3–0 victory for West Brom, all three goals coming in the second half. The pivotal point of the game was when Vale defender Peter Swan

Peter Swan (footballer born 1966)

Peter Harold Swan is an English former footballer who played as a defender and centre forward. In a sixteen year professional career in the Football League he scored 62 goals in 445 games....

was sent off for bringing down Bob Taylor

Bob Taylor (footballer)

Robert Taylor , better known as Bob Taylor, is an English former footballer who played as a centre forward. Known by supporters as Super Bobby Taylor, Superbob or simply Super, Taylor scored more than 250 goals in a professional career that comprised almost 750 games in 20 years...

, who had been through on goal. Andy Hunt

Andy Hunt (footballer)

Andrew "Andy" Hunt is a former English footballer.-Career:Hunt started his career in non-league football, whilst training in business and tourism management, with King's Lynn and Kettering Town before being signed by then manager Jim Smith for Newcastle United in early 1991...

, Nicky Reid

Nicky Reid

Nicholas Scott "Nicky" Reid was an English footballer defender. He played at both centre back and full back during his career....

and Kevin Donovan

Kevin Donovan

Kevin Donovan is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder between 1989 and 2007. He notably played for Grimsby Town and West Bromwich Albion, and scored goals at Wembley Stadium for both clubs in Football League play-off finals...

went on to score for Albion, to take their side into the second tier of the Football League

The Football League

Route to the final

**Football League Division Two final table, leading positions**
Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A
1	Stoke City Stoke City F.C. Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...	46	27	12	7	73	34
93
2	Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers F.C. Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....	46	27	9	10	80	41
90
3	Port Vale Port Vale F.C. Port Vale Football Club is an English football club currently playing in Football League Two. They are based in Burslem, Staffordshire — one of six towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The club's traditional rivals in the city are Stoke City, and games between the two clubs are known as...	46	26	11	9	79	44
89
4	West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion F.C. West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...	46	25	10	11	88	54
85
Pos=Position P=Games played W=Wins D=Draws L=Defeats F=Goals for A=Goals against Pts=Points

Port Vale had finished the 1992–93 Football League season in third place in Division Three

Football League Third Division

, one place ahead of West Bromwich Albion. Both therefore missed out on the two automatic promotion

Promotion and relegation

places and instead took part in the play-offs

Football League Play-Offs

The Football League play-offs are an annual series of football matches to determine some of the promotion places within the Football League. Essentially, each division of the league offers a certain number of automatic promotion places to the top two or three clubs. A further promotion place is...

to determine the third promoted team. Vale had finished one point behind Bolton

Bolton Wanderers F.C.

Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....

in second and also had superior goal difference to Bolton. The misery for Vale was made worse by the fact that they had lost both Potteries derby

Potteries derby

The Potteries derby is the football local derby in Stoke-on-Trent between Port Vale and Stoke City. The fans of each club both consider the other to be their main rivals; this has led to a heated atmosphere at these matches, especially with the rise of football hooliganism and the 'Naughty Forty'...

games to rivals Stoke

Stoke City F.C.

Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...

, who went up as champions four points ahead of Vale. West Bromwich Albion finished fourth, four points behind Port Vale, having scored 88 goals that season, more than any other team in the division; 30 of these goals came from the division's top scorer Bob Taylor

Bob Taylor (footballer)

. Swansea City

Swansea City A.F.C.

and Stockport County

Stockport County F.C.

finished 12 and 13 points behind Albion in fifth and sixth respectively.

In the semi-finals, Vale drew 1–1 at Stockport's Edgeley Park

Edgeley Park

Edgeley Park is an association football and rugby union stadium in Stockport, England. The stadium was initially built for the rugby league club Stockport in 1901, but by 1902, the rugby club was defunct and in the same year, Stockport County Football Club, who were looking for a bigger ground,...

, Glover

Dean Glover

Dean Victor Glover is an English former footballer and football manager. A cultured and stylish defender, he had the ball control skills of a midfielder. He played 457 league games in a seventeen year career in the Football League.He started his career at Aston Villa in 1980, before he moved on to...

the scorer, before returning to Vale Park

Vale Park

Vale Park is a football stadium in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England. It is the home ground of Port Vale F.C., who have played at the ground since 1950....

to finish them off 1–0 with a Martin Foyle

Martin Foyle

Martin John Foyle is an English former footballer, turned football manager. In his 20 year playing career he played 533 League games, scoring 155 goals...

goal. Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

side Swansea won 2–1 at their home ground

Vetch Field

The Vetch Field was a multi-purpose stadium in Swansea, Wales. It was used mostly for football matches and was the home ground of Swansea City until the Liberty Stadium opened in 2005. Opened in 1912, the ground held around 12,000 at the time of its closure, but upwards of 30,000 at its peak...

before bowing out 2–0 at The Hawthorns

The Hawthorns

The Hawthorns is an all-seater football stadium in West Bromwich, Sandwell, England, with a capacity of 26,484. It has been the home of West Bromwich Albion F.C. since 1900, when it became the sixth ground to be used by the club. The ground was the last Football League ground to be built in the...

Port Vale			Round	West Bromwich Albion
Opponent	Result	Legs	Semi-finals	Opponent	Result	Legs
Stockport County Stockport County F.C. Stockport County Football Club is an English football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The club formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, shortly afterwards merging with Heaton Norris F.C., and adopted the current name on 24 May 1890 on the creation of the County Borough of Stockport...	2–1	1–1 away; 1–0 home		Swansea City Swansea City A.F.C. Swansea City Association Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. One of the most successful clubs in Welsh football, it has won 10 Welsh Cups and led the English Football League First Division in December 1981, before finishing the season in 6th position...	3–2	1–2 away; 2–0 home

Second half

West Brom's goal machine Taylor was through on goal when he was brought down by former Leeds

Leeds United A.F.C.

Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...

team-mate Peter Swan. Swan's subsequent dismissal proved to be the turning point in the game, with Hunt scoring the first goal in a 3–0 victory. Nicky Reid and Kevin Donovan made the last stages of the game comfortable for the Baggies.

Post match

Albion spent nine more seasons in the wilderness but avoided a return to the third tier. Instead, after barely surviving the next season, they steadily improved until achieving promotion to the Premier League by finishing second in the 2001-02 season.

Vale won promotion as runners-up in the following season, and spent the next six seasons in the second tier. But after a high of eighth in 1996–97 they returned to the third tier for the opening season of the new millennium.

Osvaldo Ardiles

Osvaldo Ardiles

Osvaldo César Ardiles , often referred to in Britain as Ossie Ardiles, is a football coach, pundit and former midfielder who won the 1978 World Cup as part of the Argentine national team...

left Albion to return to Spurs

Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....

in 1993 before heading abroad in 1995. John Rudge

John Rudge

John Robert Rudge is an English former football player and football manager. He is currently working as the director of football at Stoke City....

was controversially sacked in 1999 and decided sixteen years as a manager was enough, instead choosing to became Director of Football at local rivals

Potteries derby

Stoke City

Stoke City F.C.

- remaining in this post to see the Potters reach the Premier League for the first time in 2008. Bob Taylor

Bob Taylor (footballer)

had continued success at West Brom before spending 1998 to 2000 with Bolton Wanderers

Bolton Wanderers F.C.

, only to return to The Hawthorns

The Hawthorns

to help the club achieve Premiership status in 2002. He retired in 2007 at the age of 39.

Andy Hunt stayed with West Brom until 1998 when he signed for Charlton Athletic

Charlton Athletic F.C.

Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...

, retiring in 2000 at age 30. Nicky Reid left the club in 1997 to become player-manager of Sligo Rovers

Sligo Rovers F.C.

Sligo Rovers Football Club is a professional Irish football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 and have been in the League of Ireland since 1934. The club is a co-operative venture, owned by the people of Sligo. Sligo Rovers have played at...

, but things did not go well for him and he returned to England to become a physiotherapist

Physical therapy

Physical therapy , often abbreviated PT, is a health care profession. Physical therapy is concerned with identifying and maximizing quality of life and movement potential within the spheres of promotion, prevention, diagnosis, treatment/intervention,and rehabilitation...

. Kevin Donovan also left in 1997 and moved to Grimsby Town

Grimsby Town F.C.

Grimsby Town Football Club is an English football club based in the seaside town of Cleethorpes, in North East Lincolnshire, England, who compete in the Conference National. They were formed in 1878 as Grimsby Pelham and later became Grimsby Town...

, also scoring for them in the 1998 Second Division play-off Final. He retired in 2007. Red carded Peter Swan left Vale in 1994 to move to Plymouth Argyle

Plymouth Argyle F.C.

Plymouth Argyle Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Plymouth, Devon, that plays in Football League Two.Since becoming professional in 1903, the club has won five Football League titles, five Southern League titles and one Western League title. The 2009–10 season was the...

for a fee of £300,000, and turned out for numerous other clubs before retiring in 2000.

Match details


style="font-size: 90%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">	West Bromwich Albion:
GK	1	Tony Lange Tony Lange Anthony "Tony" Lange is an English retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Lange made over 250 appearances in the Football League between 1982 and 1987.-Career:...
RB	2	Nicky Reid Nicky Reid Nicholas Scott "Nicky" Reid was an English footballer defender. He played at both centre back and full back during his career....
LB	3	Steve Lilwall
CM	4	Darren Bradley Darren Bradley Darren Michael BRADLEY is a former professional footballer. Darren first came to notice to Aston Villa F.C. scouts while at secondary school in Kings Norton, before signing for the Villains in 1983...
CB	5	Paul Raven Paul Raven (footballer) Paul Duncan Raven is a former professional footballer who played as a defender between 1988 and 2006. He notably played for West Bromwich Albion and Grimsby Town.-Career:...
CB	6	Gary Strodder Gary Strodder Gary Strodder was a centre half who played for West Ham United for four seasons, making 71 starts in total with a further eight appearances as substitute. His two goals were both scored against South Coast opposition, Portsmouth and Bournemouth. He joined in March 1987 from Lincoln City...
CF	7	Andy Hunt Andy Hunt (footballer) Andrew "Andy" Hunt is a former English footballer.-Career:Hunt started his career in non-league football, whilst training in business and tourism management, with King's Lynn and Kettering Town before being signed by then manager Jim Smith for Newcastle United in early 1991...
CM	8	Ian Hamilton Ian Hamilton (footballer born 1967) Ian Richard Hamilton is an English former professional footballer who played in the Football League as a midfielder between 1988 and 2002...
CF	9	Bob Taylor Bob Taylor (footballer) Robert Taylor , better known as Bob Taylor, is an English former footballer who played as a centre forward. Known by supporters as Super Bobby Taylor, Superbob or simply Super, Taylor scored more than 250 goals in a professional career that comprised almost 750 games in 20 years...
LM	10	Bernard McNally Bernard McNally Bernard Anthony McNally is a former Northern Ireland international footballer who played in midfield....
RM	11	Kevin Donovan Kevin Donovan Kevin Donovan is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder between 1989 and 2007. He notably played for Grimsby Town and West Bromwich Albion, and scored goals at Wembley Stadium for both clubs in Football League play-off finals...
Substitutes:
FW		Simon Garner Simon Garner Simon Garner is an English former professional footballer. He is the record goal scorer for the English club Blackburn Rovers....
MF		Gary Robson Gary Robson (footballer) Gary Robson is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, he played in the Football League between 1982 and 1996 for West Bromwich Albion and Bradford City, making nearly 300 league appearances.Robson later played non-league...
Manager:
Osvaldo Ardiles Osvaldo Ardiles Osvaldo César Ardiles , often referred to in Britain as Ossie Ardiles, is a football coach, pundit and former midfielder who won the 1978 World Cup as part of the Argentine national team...

style="font-size: 90%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> Port Vale: | GK 1

Paul Musselwhite

Paul Stephen Musselwhite is an English footballer who plays for York City as a goalkeeper, where he is also the club's Goalkeeping Coach....

DF 2

Neil Aspin

Neil Aspin is an English former professional footballer turned football manager, who is now managing Conference North club F.C. Halifax Town....

MF 3

Kevin Kent

Kevin Joseph Kent is a retired English professional football winger, now working as a football coach.Starting his career at West Bromwich Albion in 1983, he began playing regular football with Newport County the following year. He then made his name playing for Mansfield Town over a six year...

MF 4

Andy Porter

Andy Porter (footballer)

Andrew Michael "Andy" Porter is an English former footballer, turned coach and manager, who is now a youth team coach at Stockport County...

DF 5

Peter Swan

Peter Swan (footballer born 1966)

Peter Harold Swan is an English former footballer who played as a defender and centre forward. In a sixteen year professional career in the Football League he scored 62 goals in 445 games....

DF 6

Dean Glover

MF 7

Bernie Slaven

Bernard Joseph "Bernie" Slaven is a Scottish-born former Republic of Ireland international footballer. A striker, with 162 goals in 423 league games, in a 12 year career, he also earned seven caps for the Republic of Ireland....

MF 8

Robin van der Laan

Robin van der Laan is a Dutch former footballer who spent most of his senior career in English football...

FW 9

Martin Foyle

Martin John Foyle is an English former footballer, turned football manager. In his 20 year playing career he played 533 League games, scoring 155 goals...

MF 10

Paul Kerr FW 11

Ian Taylor

Ian Taylor (footballer)

Ian Kenneth Taylor is an English former footballer, best known for his time at Aston Villa. A midfielder, he had a fifteen year career in the Football League and Premier League, making 478 league appearances....

Substitutes: FW 12

Nicky Cross

Nicholas Jeremy Rowland Cross is a former English footballer.-Playing career:Cross played for West Bromwich Albion before signing for Walsall where he was the clubs 1985–86 top scorer with 21 goals. He later signed for Leicester City before joining Port Vale for a £125,000 fee in June 1989...

DF 14

Peter Billing

Peter Graham Billing is an English former footballer.-Playing career:Billing started his career with local non-league South Liverpool before being signed up by Everton in January 1986. He only played one game for the Toffees before being sold to Crewe Alexandra for £12,000 in December that year...

Manager:

John Rudge

John Robert Rudge is an English former football player and football manager. He is currently working as the director of football at Stoke City....

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.