1996 Football League First Division play-off Final

The 1996 Football League First Division play-off Final was a football match played at Wembley Stadium, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

on May 27 1996 at the end of the 1995–96 season. The match determined 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 First Division

Football League First Division

The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....

to the Premiership, and was contested by Leicester City

Leicester City F.C.

Leicester City Football Club , also known as The Foxes, is an English professional football club based at the King Power Stadium in Leicester...

, who finished fifth during the league season, and Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace F.C.

Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...

, who finished third. The teams reached the final by defeating 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...

and 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,...

respectively in the two-legged semi-finals.

It was Leicester's fourth Football League First Division play-off final

Football League Championship play-offs

The Football League Championship play-offs are a series of playoff matches contested by the teams finishing from 3rd to 6th in the Football League Championship table. The semi-finals are played over two legs, with 6th playing 3rd and 5th playing 4th, with the return fixtures following...

in five years, having lost to Blackburn Rovers

Blackburn Rovers F.C.

Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....

and Swindon Town

Swindon Town F.C.

Swindon Town Football Club are a team based in Swindon, Wiltshire. Currently in League Two, Swindon have been managed by Paolo Di Canio since 23 May 2011...

and beaten local rivals Derby County

Derby County F.C.

Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...

in three consecutive finals in 1992, 1993 and 1994. Crystal Palace had also been in the play-off final at this level before, also playing Blackburn Rovers

Blackburn Rovers F.C.

, and beating them 4–3 on aggregate in 1989.

Summary

After a shaky start from both teams, Crystal Palace took the early advantage, netting after just 14 minutes thanks to a drilled effort from Andy Roberts

Andy Roberts (footballer)

Andrew James Roberts is a retired English football midfielder.Roberts began his career at Millwall in 1991. In 1995, Roberts moved to Crystal Palace where he was the club's player of the year in 1996. In 1998 he signed for Wimbledon where he stayed until 2002...

. The game ebbed and flowed for the remainder of the half, with just the single goal separating the sides at half-time. Leicester came out fighting in the second half, with Steve Walsh

Steve Walsh (footballer)

Steven Walsh is a former professional footballer, who spent most of his career at Leicester City. He also played for Wigan, Norwich, Tamworth and Coventry City, over a career lasting 21 years. He was a defender and an occasional striker...

seeing an attempt saved off the line just after the break. Their persistence eventually paid off after Marc Edworthy

Marc Edworthy

Marc Edworthy is a former English professional footballer. He started out playing as a right winger before being moved to right back...

brought down Muzzy Izzet in the area and Garry Parker

Garry Parker

Garry Parker is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder for Luton Town, Hull City, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Leicester City, mostly in the top division of English football, in the 1980s and 1990s. He was capped by his country at under-21 and B international level...

converted the resulting spot-kick with 15 minutes of regulation time left to play. The game ended 1-1 at 90 minutes and went into extra-time. The biggest talking point of extra-time came with just seconds to go; Martin O'Neill

Martin O'Neill

Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, OBE, is a Northern Irish football manager and former player.Until resigning the post on 9 August 2010, he was manager of Aston Villa. Starting his career in his native Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playing career with Nottingham...

sent on his substitute goalkeeper Željko Kalac

Željko Kalac

Željko Kalac is a retired Australian football goalkeeper. Standing at 2.02m, Kalac is one of the world's tallest professional goalkeepers....

, expecting the 6 ft 7in keeper to be a better bet at saving penalties than Kevin Poole

Kevin Poole

Kevin Poole is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Football League Two side Burton Albion, where he is also goalkeeping coach...

. Immediately following the resumption of play, a long free-kick was only partially cleared by the Crystal Palace defence and the ball came back out to an unmarked Steve Claridge

Steve Claridge

Stephen Edward Claridge is an English football player, pundit and coach. He is currently a pundit for BBC Sport football shows including Football Focus and the The Football League Show, whilst also playing as a striker for semi-professional team Gosport Borough.Claridge's career is known for its...

on the edge of the Palace box. Claridge then volleyed home the winner from 20 yards past the hapless Nigel Martyn

Nigel Martyn

Antony Nigel Martyn , more commonly known as Nigel Martyn, is a retired English football goalkeeper. He played for Crystal Palace where he became the first £1million goalkeeper in British football and also won the Full Members Cup. Martyn then left to spend six seasons at Leeds United. He went on...

with just under half a minute of extra-time left to play. Some Crystal Palace players later admitted they were put off by the substitution, though O'Neill admitted that was never the intention.

Match details


style="font-size: 90%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">	LEICESTER CITY:
GK	1	Kevin Poole Kevin Poole Kevin Poole is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Football League Two side Burton Albion, where he is also goalkeeping coach...
RB	2	Simon Grayson Simon Grayson Simon Nicholas Grayson is a retired English footballer and current manager of Leeds United. He is the elder brother of cricketer Paul Grayson....
CB	4	Julian Watts Julian Watts Julian Watts is an English professional footballer, best known as a player for Luton Town and Australian side Northern Spirit who is now the manager of Hallam.-Playing career:...
CB	5	Steve Walsh Steve Walsh (footballer) Steven Walsh is a former professional footballer, who spent most of his career at Leicester City. He also played for Wigan, Norwich, Tamworth and Coventry City, over a career lasting 21 years. He was a defender and an occasional striker... (c)
LB	3	Mike Whitlow Mike Whitlow Michael William Whitlow is a former professional footballer, who now works as the Head Coach of Youth for Burton Albion....
RM	10	Garry Parker Garry Parker Garry Parker is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder for Luton Town, Hull City, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Leicester City, mostly in the top division of English football, in the 1980s and 1990s. He was capped by his country at under-21 and B international level...
CM	6	Muzzy Izzet
CM	7	Neil Lennon Neil Lennon Neil Francis Lennon is a former footballer from Northern Ireland. He is the current manager and former captain of Celtic....
LM	8	Scott Taylor Scott Taylor (footballer born 1970) Scott Dean Taylor is a retired former professional footballer, who most notably played for Reading....
CF	11	Emile Heskey Emile Heskey Emile William Ivanhoe Heskey is an English footballer who plays for Aston Villa as a striker.Born in Leicester, Heskey started his career with hometown club Leicester City after progressing through their youth system, making his first team debut in 1995...
CF	9	Steve Claridge Steve Claridge Stephen Edward Claridge is an English football player, pundit and coach. He is currently a pundit for BBC Sport football shows including Football Focus and the The Football League Show, whilst also playing as a striker for semi-professional team Gosport Borough.Claridge's career is known for its...
Substitutes:
FW	12	Mark Robins Mark Robins Mark Gordon Robins is an English football manager, appointed manager of Barnsley in 2009.As a player, he was most notable for his exploits with Manchester United, Norwich City and Leicester City...
GK	13	Željko Kalac Željko Kalac Željko Kalac is a retired Australian football goalkeeper. Standing at 2.02m, Kalac is one of the world's tallest professional goalkeepers....
DF	14	Colin Hill Colin Hill Colin Frederick Hill is a former Northern Irish professional football player most notable for his careers with Arsenal and Leicester City and as a Northern Ireland international....
Manager:
Martin O'Neill Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, OBE, is a Northern Irish football manager and former player.Until resigning the post on 9 August 2010, he was manager of Aston Villa. Starting his career in his native Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playing career with Nottingham...

style="font-size: 90%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> CRYSTAL PALACE: | GK 1

Nigel Martyn

RWB 7

Darren Pitcher

Darren Pitcher is a retired English footballer, who played for Charlton Athletic, Crystal Palace and Leyton Orient . Pitcher started his career as a right full back at Charlton, but then converted to an effective defensive midfielder.His career was ended at Crystal Palace in a match against...

CB 2

Marc Edworthy

Marc Edworthy is a former English professional footballer. He started out playing as a right winger before being moved to right back...

CB 3

Kenny Brown CB 10

David Tuttle (c) LWB 5

Rob Quinn

Robert John "Rob" Quinn is an English-Irish footballer, currently playing for Sevenoaks. He plays as midfielder predominantly in the centre but can also play at centre back. He has represented the Republic of Ireland under-21's and Republic of Ireland B team.Quinn began his career at Crystal...

CM 6

David Hopkin

David Hopkin is a Scottish former professional football player who is assistant manager at .-Club career:Hopkin started his career at Morton before earning a move to Premier League side Chelsea in 1992...

CM 4

Andy Roberts

Andy Roberts (footballer)

CM 8

Ray Houghton

Raymond James "Ray" Houghton is a retired Scottish-born footballer who represented the Republic of Ireland at international level, qualifying through his Irish father...

CF 9

Dougie Freedman

Douglas "Dougie" Freedman is a Scottish former professional football player who played as a striker. He is currently manager at Championship club Crystal Palace, where he spent ten of his sixteen years as a player.-Barnet:...

CF 11

George Ndah

George Ebialimolisa Ndah is a retired English football player from Asaba, Nigeria He has an older brother who has also played on a lower league level.-Career:...

Substitutes: MF 12

Carl Veart

Carl Veart is a former Australian football player who last played as a striker for Adelaide United.-Club career:...

MF 13

Simon Rodger

Simon Rodger is an English footballer most noted for his career with Crystal Palace.-Club career:...

FW 14

Bruce Dyer

Bruce Antonio Dyer is an English former footballer who played as a striker.His career started in 1993 with Watford, before he became the country's first £1 million-teenager when he joined Crystal Palace in 1994. He spent five years with Palace, playing more than 100 games, and then another...

Manager:

Dave Bassett

David Bassett , also frequently known by his nickname of Harry, is an English football manager and a former player....

MATCH RULES

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

Leicester City

EWLINE

First Leg	Leicester City	0–0	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...
Second Leg	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...	0–1	Leicester City

Crystal Palace

EWLINE

First Leg	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,...	1–2	Crystal Palace
Second Leg	Crystal Palace	1–0	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,...

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