The 2003 Football Conference play-off Final took place on 10 May 2003 and was contested between

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as Dag ...

and

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at T ...

. It was held at the

Britannia Stadium The Bet365 Stadium (stylised as ''bet365 Stadium'') is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was re ...

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement in Staffordshire and is surroun ...

and was the inaugural final of the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called th ...

playoffs which were introduced to accommodate a second promotion place to the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

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 Stephen Brian Foster (born 24 September 1957) is an English former footballer. Football career Born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, Foster was an associate schoolboy with Southampton, but was not offered a professional contract. He started his prof ...

, 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 David Thomas Morley (born 25 September 1977 in St Helens) is an English former footballer. Morley started his career at Manchester City. He made 20 starts for the club's reserve team in 1996–97, and broke into the senior team for the first ...

'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 Andrew Clifford Warrington (born 10 June 1976) is an English former professional footballer and the current first team goalkeeping coach at Derby County. He played as a goalkeeper for York City, Doncaster Rovers, Bury, Rotherham United, Buxton ...

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 Francis Tierney (born 10 September 1975) is an English retired professional footballer who played most notably for Crewe Alexandra and Doncaster Rovers. Tierney came through the famous Crewe Alexandra academy system where he was extremely hig ...

, 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, officially known as "Promotion Goal" in this match. The pitch was subsequently invaded by Doncaster Rovers fans, including one wearing an oversized jester's hat who managed to circle the ground before being caught by police.

Details

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:2003 Football Conference Play-Off Final Play-off Final Play-off Final 2003 Play-off Final 2003 National League (English football) play-off finals Conference Playoff Final 2003 Football Conference play-off Final