.jpg) The match took place at Wembley Stadium. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Date | 25 May 1997 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Wembley Stadium, London | ||||||
| Referee | Uriah Rennie (Sheffield) | ||||||
| Attendance | 34,149 | ||||||
The 1997 Football League Second Division play-off final was an association football match which was played on 25 May 1997 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Crewe Alexandra and Brentford. The top two teams of the 1996–97 Football League Second Division league, Bury and Stockport County, gained automatic promotion to the First Division, while the teams placed from third to sixth place in the table took part in play-offs. The winners of the play-off semi-finals competed for the final place for the 1997–98 season in the First Division. The losing semi-finalists were Luton Town and Bristol City who had been defeated by Crewe and Brentford respectively.
The referee for the match, played in front of 34,149 spectators, was Uriah Rennie from Sheffield. Crewe dominated the early stages of the match and in the 34th minute, Steve Macauley passed Murphy's cross to Shaun Smith who struck from close range to make it 1–0 to Crewe. Within two minutes, McCauley headed a corner from Rivers against the Brentford crossbar. Midway through the second half, Bob Taylor thought he had scored the equaliser for Brentford but his shot was saved by Crewe goalkeeper Jason Kearton. In the 74th minute, Brentford were reduced to ten men after Brian Statham was sent off having been shown a second yellow card. Dele Adebola's shot hit the crossbar of the Brentford goal and two attempts from Colin Little were stopped on the Crewe goal-line by Carl Hutchings. The match ended 1–0 and Crewe were promoted to the First Division.
Brentford's following season saw their manager David Webb resign in August to be replaced by Eddie May. May himself left the club three months later, and was replaced by Micky Adams, who led them to a 21st place in the Second Division and relegation to the Third Division. Crewe ended their next season in eleventh position in the First Division, five places and fifteen points below the play-offs.