 The final took place at Wembley Stadium. | |||||||
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| After extra time | |||||||
| Date | 28 May 2000 | ||||||
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| Venue | Wembley Stadium, London | ||||||
| Referee | Rob Styles (Hampshire) | ||||||
| Attendance | 53,764 | ||||||
The 2000 Football League Second Division play-off final was an association football match played at Wembley Stadium on 28 May 2000, to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from the Second Division to the First Division of the Football League in the 1999–2000 season. Gillingham faced Wigan Athletic in one of the last competitive games to be played at the original Wembley Stadium. It was Gillingham's second consecutive appearance in the Second Division play-off final after a defeat to Manchester City a year earlier. Wigan had been defeated in the semi-finals the previous season and the game marked their first appearance in a play-off final. The teams reached the 2000 final by defeating Stoke City and Millwall respectively in the semi-finals.
The final drew a crowd of 53,764 and was refereed by Rob Styles. Gillingham took the lead in the first half when Wigan defender Pat McGibbon scored an own goal under pressure from Iffy Onuora. Wigan equalised shortly after half-time, and believed they had taken the lead when Gillingham's Nicky Southall blocked a shot from Wigan's Arjan de Zeeuw; Southall appeared to be standing behind the goal line, which would have meant that the ball had entered the goal, but the assistant referee ruled otherwise. The score after the regulation 90 minutes was 1–1 so the match went into extra time. During the extra period Wigan took a 2–1 lead when Stuart Barlow scored a penalty kick, but Gillingham scored two goals in the last six minutes through Steve Butler and Andy Thomson, both of whom had come on as substitutes, to win 3–2. Gillingham thus gained promotion to the second tier of English football for the first time in the club's 107-year history.
Both teams' managers left their respective jobs after the match. Wigan's John Benson had always intended to step down at the end of the season; Gillingham hoped to retain the services of Peter Taylor but he chose to leave and take the manager's job at Leicester City. Gillingham spent five years at the higher level before being relegated back to the third tier. After losing in the play-offs again in 2001, Wigan finally gained promotion to the First Division in 2003.