2002 Football League Third Division play-off final

Cheltenham Town finished the regular 2001–02 season in fourth place in the Football League Third Division, the fourth tier of the English football league system, two positions ahead of Rushden & Diamonds. Both therefore missed out on the three automatic places for promotion to the Second Division and instead took part in the play-offs to determine the fourth promoted team. Cheltenham Town finished one point behind Mansfield Town (who were promoted in third place), nineteen behind Luton Town (who were promoted in second place), and twenty-four behind league winners Plymouth Argyle. Rushden & Diamonds ended the season five points behind Cheltenham Town.[1]

Rushden & Diamonds faced Rochdale in their play-off semi-final with the first match of the two-legged tie taking place at Nene Park, Rushden's home ground, on 27 April 2002. Lee McEvilly put the visitors ahead on eight minutes before a header from Stuart Wardley levelled the match in the 34th minute.[2] Eleven minutes after half-time, Paul Simpson scored from distance with a curling shot before Rushden saw a potential equalising goal from Onandi Lowe disallowed for a foul. Garry Butterworth then scored for Rochdale in the 72nd minute from the edge of the penalty area, and the match ended 2–2.[3] The second leg of the semi-final took place three days later at Spotland in Rochdale. After a goalless first half, Mark Peters scored an own goal when his backpass rolled into the Rushden goal to give Rochdale the lead. Immediately from the restart, Butterworth's pass found Lowe who turned and scored to make it 1–1. In the 75th minute, Hall took advantage of a mistake by Griffiths to go round Billy Turley, the Rochdale goalkeeper, and score the deciding goal. Rushden won the match 2–1 and progressed to the play-off final with a 4–3 aggregate victory.[4]

Cheltenham's opposition for their play-off semi-final were Hartlepool United; the first leg was held at Victoria Park in Hartlepool on 27 April 2002. The visiting side started strongly and eventually took the lead in injury time in the first half when Eifion Williams scored with a header from close range. With one minute remaining in the game, Martyn Lee won the ball from Chris Westwood and played it to Neil Grayson who levelled the score, ending the match 1–1.[5] The second leg took place three days later at Whaddon Road in Cheltenham. Paul Arnison put Hartlepool ahead on 17 minutes with a low strike but Williams equalised ten minutes later with a shot from 25 yards (23 metres). The second half was goalless which meant the game ended 1–1 and 2–2 on aggregate, resulting in extra time. Grayson came close to scoring with a header but no goals were scored in the additional period so a penalty shootout was required to decide the match. Both sides scored four of their first five spot kicks. Alsop then scored to put Cheltenham ahead in sudden death before Ritchie Humphreys' strike hit the crossbar; despite appearing to have crossed the goalline, the shot was adjudged to have missed. Cheltenham progressed to the play-off final with a 5–4 victory on penalties.[6][7]

Steve Cotterill, the Cheltenham manager, suggested the play-off route to promotion was his preference: "I always said this is the way to go up ... Cheltenham will never have another season like this".[19] His counterpart Brian Talbot admitted his side was second-best and that Cheltenham "edged it and deserved to win ... On the day the best team has won and we have got to reproduce it next season."[19] Cheltenham became the eleventh consecutive team to win a final at the Millennium Stadium after being allocated the North End dressing room.[19] Devaney was named as man of the match.[19]

Rushden & Diamonds ended their following season as champions of the Third Division and secured automatic promotion to the Second Division.[21] Cotterill moved to Stoke City by the end of May 2002, replacing Guðjón Þórðarson who was sacked four days after leading Stoke to promotion in the 2002 Football League Second Division play-off final.[22] Cheltenham Town's next season saw them finish in 21st position in the Second Division which meant they were relegated back to the Third Division for the 2003–04 season.[23]