By Simon Wright - Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
The play-off
weekend in May 1998 had been a big disappointment upto the staging of the
Division One play-off final. Colchester
United had beaten Torquay United 1-0 in the Division Three final, whilst
Grimsby Town had overcome Northampton Town by the same scoreline in Division
Two.
The Division
One final was between Charlton Athletic and Sunderland, and it didn’t promise
much. In the last seven meetings between
the sides, there had only been seven goals in total, and both matches in the
regular campaign had ended in draws. The
experts predicted it would be a techy, tepid affair but then, what do they
know.
Sunderland
started the game as favourites having finished third in the league, only
missing out on automatic promotion by a single point. They had overturned a first leg deficit in
the semi-finals to beat Sheffield United.
Charlton were on a great defensive run and had stretched their clean
sheet sequence to 10 after shutting out Ipswich Town in the other semi, winning
2-0 on aggregate.
The match was
going to the formbook in the early stages with few clear openings but the
deadlock was eventually broken in the 24th minute. Former Sheffield Wednesday poacher Mark
Bright flicked the ball on with his head to his prolific strike partner Clive
Mendonca. Mendonca produced a brilliant
turn on the edge of the penalty area to spin away from his marker Jody Craddock
and then beat Lionel Perez in the Sunderland goal with consummate ease.
In the first
half, Sunderland looked second best.
However they immediately started pressing higher on the restart and got
an instant reward. The presence of Niall
Quinn was crucial, as he was first to Nicky Summerbee’s corner at the near post
to power the Wearsiders level five minutes into the restart.
Quinn missed
a golden chance shortly afterwards when unmarked in the area from Lee Clark’s
long pass, but Kevin Phillips ensured Sunderland’s more free approach was
working when he gave them a deserved lead moments later. Kevin Ball’s strong challenge put Phillips in
the clear and he beat Sasa Ilic to a ball the goalkeeper never looked like
winning the race to. The goal made
Phillips the top scorer in the country in season 1997-98.
Undeterred
from a rocky 15 minute spell, Charlton’s response was impressive. Substitute Steve Jones played in Mendonca
with an incisive ball pass and the in-form attacker tucked home his second of
the afternoon in the 71st minute.
To rub salt into the wounds of Sunderland, Mendonca was a boyhood Black
Cats fans.
Seconds
later, Peter Reid’s side went down the other end of the field in this
unbelievable match and regained control.
A tremendous ball from Clark found Quinn, who controlled the cross
brilliantly on the chest and then beat Ilic at the near post.
The
goalkeepers weren’t having a great day.
Perez was caught in no man’s land with four minutes left of normal time,
and Richard Rufus rose highest from John Robinson’s corner to power home his
first ever goal for Charlton Athletic.
It was a
pulsating match, especially in the second half and the thrills continued into
extra time. For the third time in the
game, Sunderland took the lead nine minutes into the first period. Nicky Summerbee lashed a right foot shot past
Ilic after some good build-up work from Quinn, who was a menace for the
Charlton backline all afternoon.
Once again though,
Charlton’s response was great, drawing level for a third time just before
half-time in extra time. Mendonca
completed his hat-trick in grand style.
And so it
went to penalties and they were largely faultless. In fact, the first 13 spot-kicks were
successful. The 14th penalty
was not. Michael Gray’s weak effort was
comfortably saved by Ilic and Charlton were promoted into the Premiership for
the first time. For Sunderland, another
season in Division One beckoned although they would go up the following campaign
as champions.
The ultimate
winner though was football. Once again,
the play-offs had delivered the most ultimate drama possible.
DATE: 25th May 1998
LOCATION: Wembley Stadium
ATTENDANCE: 77,739
REFEREE: Eddie Wolstenholme
FINAL SCORE: Charlton Athletic 4-4 Sunderland (CHARLTON WON 7-6 ON PENALTIES)
GOALSCORERS: Clive Mendonca 23, 71, 103, Niall Quinn 50, 73, Kevin Phillips 58, Richard Rufus 85, Nicky Summerbee 99
TEAMS – Charlton: Sasa Ilic, Danny Mills, Eddie Youds, Richard Rufus, Mark Bowen, Mark Kinsella, Shaun Newton, Keith Jones, Neil Heaney, Mark Bright, Clive Mendonca
SUBS: Steve Jones (for Heaney) 65 minutes, John Robinson (for Mills) 76 minutes, Steve Brown (for Bright) 93 minutes
Sunderland: Lionel Perez, Darren Holloway, Darren Williams, Jody Craddock, Michael Gray, Nicky Summerbee, Kevin Ball, Lee Clark, Allan Johnston, Kevin Phillips, Niall Quinn
SUBS: Chris Makin (for Holloway) 45 minutes, Danny Dichio (for Phillips) 73 minutes, Alex Rae (for Clark) 100 minutes
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