 The final took place at Wembley Stadium (pictured in 2002). | |||||||
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| Manchester City won 3–1 on penalties | |||||||
| Date | 30 May 1999 | ||||||
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| Venue | Wembley Stadium, London | ||||||
| Referee | Mark Halsey (Welwyn Garden City) | ||||||
| Attendance | 76,935 | ||||||
The 1999 Football League Second Division play-off final was an association football match which was played on 30 May 1999 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Manchester City and Gillingham. The match was to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from the Football League Second Division, the third tier of English football, to the First Division. The top two teams of the 1998–99 Football League Second Division season gained automatic promotion to the First Division, while the clubs placed from third to sixth in the table took part in play-offs. Manchester City ended the season in third position while Gillingham were fourth. The winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place in the First Division for the 1999–2000 season. In the semi-finals, Gillingham defeated Preston North End and Manchester City beat Wigan Athletic.
It was Gillingham's first match at Wembley Stadium, although Manchester City had played there on eleven previous occasions. The final drew a crowd of just under 77,000, the largest crowd to ever witness a Gillingham match, and was refereed by Mark Halsey. The match was scoreless until the 81st minute, when Carl Asaba gave Gillingham the lead. Robert Taylor added a second goal five minutes later. Kevin Horlock scored for City in the 90th minute to halve the deficit and, in the fifth minute of injury time, Paul Dickov scored an equaliser to make the score 2–2 and send the game into extra time. With no further goals being scored, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out, which City won 3–1 to gain promotion.
Manchester City's next season saw them secure automatic promotion to the FA Premier League after ending their campaign as runners-up. Gillingham finished their following season in third place in the Second Division and qualified for the play-offs again, where they secured promotion to the First Division with a 3–2 victory against Wigan Athletic in the final.