Bolton Wanderers vs Barnsley

29th May 1995
Division One Play-Off Final
Bolton Wanderers 4
Reading 3
A roller coaster of emotions saw
the Wanderers secure promotion
to the Premier League after one of
the greatest comebacks in play-off
final history.
Two goals down after 12 minutes,
thanks to goals from Lee Nogan
and Adrian Williams, defeat
seemed inevitable when Reading
were awarded a penalty in the
35th minute. Stuart Lovell stepped
up to take the kick, but Keith
Branagan kept Bolton in it with a
magnificent save.
Wanderers came out with greater
purpose for the second half,
introducing Fabian De Freitas,
(Pictured) but it wasn’t until the 75th
minute that they got a foothold on
the scoreline thanks to a goal from
Owen Coyle.
There was just four minutes left
on the clock when substitute De
Freitas got away to drive past
Shaka Hislop in the Reading goal
and send the game into extra time.
Fourteen minutes into the extra
period Mixu Paatelainen headed
home to put Bolton in front and,
three minutes from time, the Finn
set up De Freitas to knock in the
fourth. Even then there were a few
nervous moments when playermanager
Jimmy Quinn netted
Reading’s third but Bolton held on
to return to the top flight after a
fifteen-year absence.
Team: Branagan, Green, Phillips,
McAteer, Bergsson, Stubbs,
McDonald, (De Freitas), Coyle,
Paatelainen, McGinlay, Thompson.
Attendance: 64,107
28th May 2001
Division One Play-Off Final
Bolton Wanderers 3
Preston North End 0
After two successive Play-Off
failures Bolton returned to the
Premier League with a victory
over Lancashire rivals Preston
North End at the Millennium
Stadium in Cardiff.
Superior for all but the opening
exchanges, the Wanderers led
from the 16th minute as Preston
failed to clear their lines and
Gareth Farrelly swooped to drive a
low shot into the net from the edge
of the area.
Chances came and went for
Bolton and Preston were grateful
to be still in the game at half-time.
With 20 minutes left, ‘keeper Matt
Clarke made a terrific save from
David Healy that made sure Bolton
did not pay dearly for those missed
chances.
In the 89th minute Farrelly
released substitute Michael
Ricketts to score his 24th goal
of the season to rubber stamp
a return to the top flight and,
within seconds, Ricardo Gardner
scampered down the left to fire a
powerful left foot shot into the net
for the goal of the afternoon to put
the icing on the cake.
Team: Clarke, Barness, Charlton,
Frandsen, (Whitlow), Hendry,
Bergsson, Farrelly, Nolan,
Holdsworth, Hansen, (Ricketts),
Gardner.
Attendance: 54,328
www.bwfc.co.uk
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