2003 Football Conference play-off Final

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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.

[edit] 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 David 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. 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 a over-sized jester's hat who managed to circle the ground before being caught by police.

[edit] Match details

2003-05-10 14:30 BST	Dagenham & Redbridge	2 – 3	Doncaster Rovers	Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent Attendance: 13,092 Referee: Andre Marriner (Birmingham)
	Stein  63' Mustafa  78'		Green  39' Dave Morley  55' Tierney  100'

DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE GK 1 Tony Roberts DF 2 Tim Cole DF 17 Lee Matthews (c) DF 19 Tarkan Mustafa DF 4 Lee Goodwin 71' MF 8 Paul Terry 94' MF 26 John McGrath 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 71' DF 5 Mark Smith 70' MF 6 Steve Heffer 94' MF 14 Danny Hill Manager: Garry Hill

DONCASTER ROVERS GK 1 Andy Warrington DF 2 Simon Marples DF 3 Tim Ryan DF 4 David Morley DF 23 Steve Foster MF 11 Jamie Paterson 84' MF 19 Ricky Ravenhill MF 20 Paul Green MF 7 Francis Tierney FW 9 Paul Barnes (c) MF 16 Tristram Whitman 83' Substitutes: GK 13 Stuart Nelson DF 6 Mark Albrighton MF 30 Jason Blunt 84' MF 5 John Doolan FW 26 Gregg 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.

Conference National Playoff Finals v • d • e
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