1994 Football League First Division play-off final

Edit links
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

1994 Football League First Division play-off Final
Wembley Stadium
Derby County Leicester City
1 2
Date30 May 1994
VenueWembley Stadium, London
RefereeRoger Milford (Bristol)
Attendance73,671
← 1993
1995 →

The 1994 Football League First Division play-off Final was an

1993–94 Football League First Division season gained automatic promotion to the Premiership, while the clubs placed from third to sixth place took part in play-off semi-finals; the winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place for the 1994–95 season in the Premiership. Leicester City ended the season in fourth position, two places ahead of Derby County. The teams defeated Tranmere Rovers and Millwall
, respectively, in the semi-finals.

The final was played in front of a crowd of 73,671 and was refereed by Roger Milford. Derby made the better start with Marco Gabbiadini's early chance being cleared off the line. On 27 minutes, Derby took the lead: Paul Simpson's through-ball found Tommy Johnson who out-ran both Simon Grayson and Brian Carey before scoring past Gavin Ward. Four minutes before half-time, Steve Walsh levelled the score after Paul Williams failed to clear his shot off the line. In the 86th minute, Grayson made a run down the right and his pass to the centre was met by Ian Ormondroyd's header. Martin Taylor made the save but the rebound fell to Walsh who scored to put Leicester back into the lead. The match ended 2–1 to secure Leicester City's first win in the play-offs in three attempts.

Derby County ended their

First Division, six points below the final play-off places. Leicester City were relegated from the Premiership the next season
after finishing in 19th position, three places and nineteen points from safety.

Route to the final

Main article: 1993–94 Football League
Football League First Division final table, leading positions[1]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Crystal Palace 46 27 9 10 73 46 +27 90
2 Nottingham Forest 46 23 14 9 74 49 +25 83
3 Millwall 46 19 17 10 58 49 +9 74
4 Leicester City 46 19 16 11 72 59 +13 73
5 Tranmere Rovers 46 21 9 16 69 53 +16 72
6 Derby County 46 20 11 15 73 68 +5 71

1993–94 season in fourth place in the Football League First Division, the second tier of the English football league system, two places and two points ahead of Derby County. Both therefore missed out on the two automatic places for promotion to the Premiership and instead took part in the play-offs, along with Millwall and Tranmere Rovers, to determine the third promoted team. Leicester City finished ten points behind Nottingham Forest (who were promoted in second place) and seventeen behind league winners Crystal Palace.[1]

Derby County faced Millwall in their play-off semi-final, and the first match of the

aggregate 5–1 victory.[3] After the game, Millwall's chairman Reg Burr claimed that the play-offs were "a recipe for violence" and argued "they should be scrapped or else changed radically."[4]

Leicester City's opponents in their semi-final were Tranmere Rovers, with the first leg being hosted at Prenton Park, Tranmere, on 15 May 1994. The match ended goalless with one of the best chances falling to the home side, when John Aldridge's close range shot was saved by the fingertips of Gavin Ward.[5] The return leg took place three days later at Filbert Street in Leicester. In the last moments of the first half, Leicester took the lead: Mark Blake's shot hit the post and Ian Ormondroyd converted the rebound. A minute into the second half, Pat Nevin levelled the score by converting a Ged Brannan cross. David Speedie, a second-half substitute, then restored Leicester's lead with four minutes remaining, heading in a free kick from Blake. With only seconds of the match remaining, an altercation between Speedie and the Tranmere goalkeeper Eric Nixon resulted in both players being sent off. The match ended 2–1 to Leicester and they qualified for the final.[6]

Match

Background

This was Derby County's first appearance in the second-tier play-off final but they had featured in the 1992 Football League play-offs, where they were eliminated in the semi-finals by Blackburn Rovers.[7] The club had featured in the second tier since suffering relegation from the top league in the 1990–91 season.[8] Leicester were appearing in their third consecutive second tier play-off final, having lost in both 1992 and 1993.[7] They had played in the second tier of English football since they were relegated from the First Division in the 1986–87 season.[9][10] Derby County won the first of the two meetings between the clubs during the regular season, with a 3–2 victory at the Baseball Ground in December 1993. The return fixture was a 3–3 draw at Filbert Street the following April.[11] Derby County's top scorer was Tommy Johnson with 16 goals (13 in the league, 1 in the FA Cup, 1 in the League Cup and 1 in the Anglo-Italian Cup). Two players had 15 goals for the season: Gabbiadini (13 in the league and 2 in the League Cup), and Paul Kitson (13 in the league, 1 in the League Cup and 1 in the Anglo-Italian Cup).[12] Iwan Roberts and Speedie were Leicester City's top scorers with 13 goals (all in the league for Roberts, while Speedie's tally included 1 in the League Cup), while Julian Joachim had scored 12 during the regular season (11 in the league, 1 in the League Cup).[13]

The Derby County manager

tendonitis.[14] The Derby County chairman Lionel Pickering had invested £12 million bringing players to the club.[15]

The referee for the match was

ITV as part of The Match programme.[16] Derby County played in a 4–4–2 formation while Leicester City started with five defenders, two in midfield and three players in attack.[14]

Summary

The match kicked off around 3 p.m. on 30 May 1994 in front of a Wembley Stadium crowd of 73,671. Derby made the better start against Leicester's five-man defence: Jimmy Willis cleared a shot off the goalline from Gabbiadini in the first minute of the match. On 24 minutes, Pembridge and Gabbiadini set up Johnson but he sliced his shot wide of the Leicester goal. Three minutes later, Derby took the lead: Simpson's through-ball found Johnson who out-ran both Simon Grayson and Brian Carey before scoring past Ward. On 41 minutes, Roberts blocked the Derby goalkeeper Martin Taylor with an elbow to his head as he attempted to reach Gary Coatsworth's cross (a clear foul that Referee Roger Milford failed to penalise) causing Taylor to drop the ball. Walsh headed the loose ball goal-bound, Paul Williams failed to clear it off the line, and the scores were level at 1–1.[15][14]

The first substitution of the game came in the 56th minute when Leicester's Roberts was replaced by Joachim. On 68 minutes, Steve Thompson came on for Coatsworth. In the 84th minute Colin Gibson slipped, allowing John Harkes a chance, but he shot wide of the Leicester goal. Two minutes later, Grayson made a run down the right and his pass to the centre was met by Ormondroyd's header. Taylor made the save but the rebound fell to Walsh who scored for the second time to put Leicester back into the lead. Derby made their only substitution of the match straight away when striker Kitson replaced defender Michael Forsyth, but no further goals were scored; the match ended 2–1 to Leicester.[15]

Details

Leicester City2–1Derby County
Walsh 41', 84' Report Johnson 28'
Attendance: 73,671
Leicester City
Derby County
GK 1 Gavin Ward
SW 6 Gary Coatsworth downward-facing red arrow 68'
RB 2 Simon Grayson (c)
CB 5 Brian Carey
CB 4 Jimmy Willis
LB 3 Mike Whitlow
CM 7 Mark Blake
CM 8 Colin Gibson
CF 9 Steve Walsh
CF 10 Iwan Roberts downward-facing red arrow 56'
CF 11 Ian Ormondroyd
Substitutes:
FW 12 Julian Joachim upward-facing green arrow 56'
MF 14 Steve Thompson upward-facing green arrow 68'
GK 15 Kevin Poole
Manager:
Brian Little
GK 1 Martin Taylor
RB 2 Gary Charles
CB 5 Craig Short
CB 6 Paul Williams
LB 3 Michael Forsyth downward-facing red arrow 87'
RM 7 John Harkes
CM 4 Gordon Cowans
CM 8 Mark Pembridge
LM 11 Paul Simpson
CF 9 Marco Gabbiadini
CF 10 Tommy Johnson
Substitutes:
CF 12 Paul Kitson upward-facing green arrow 87'
GK 13 Steve Sutton
MF 14 Jason Kavanagh
Manager:
Roy McFarland

Post-match

The winning manager

extra time.[17] McFarland suggested his team would bounce back, but acknowledged that "there were a lot of tears on the pitch afterwards which shows the depth of feeling among the players".[17] Regarding his job as manager, he reflected that he was "not concerned" and "would love the chance to have another go."[14]

Derby County ended their

First Division, six points below the final play-off places.[18] Leicester City were relegated from the Premiership the next season after finishing in 21st position, three places and nineteen points from safety.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b "Championship – 1993/1994 – Regular season". Soccerway. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  2. Newspapers.com
    .
  3. Newspapers.com
    .
  4. ^
    Newspapers.com
    .
  5. Newspapers.com
    .
  6. Newspapers.com
    .
  7. ^ a b "Play-Off Final History & Stats". Sporting Life. 25 May 2015. Archived from the original on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  8. ^ "Derby County". Football Club History Database. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  9. ^ "The Managers: David Pleat, 1987–1991". Leicester City F.C. 19 November 2018. Archived from the original on 11 May 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  10. ^ "The Managers: Brian Little, 1991–1994". Leicester City F.C. 16 January 2019. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  11. ^ "Derby County football club: record v Leicester City". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Archived from the original on 16 June 2020. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  12. ^ Rollin 1994, pp. 202–203, 621–625, 631–632, 660.
  13. ^ Rollin 1994, pp. 280–281, 620–625, 631–632, 660.
  14. ^ a b c d e Pike, Keith (31 May 1994). "Fortune finally favours Leicester". The Times. p. 21. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021 – via Gale.
  15. ^
    Newspapers.com
    .
  16. Newspapers.com
    .
  17. ^ a b c d "Big time for Little". Newcastle Journal. 31 May 1994. p. 36. Retrieved 14 November 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  18. ^ "League Division 1 table at close of 1994–95 season". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  19. ^ "Premier League – 1994/1995". Soccerway. Perform Group. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017. Retrieved 12 November 2020.

Bibliography

  • Rollin, Jack, ed. (1994). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1994–95. London: Headline Publishing Group.
    ISBN 978-0-7472-7857-3
    .
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1994_Football_League_First_Division_play-off_final&oldid=1181324482"