2008 Football League Championship play-off Final

2008 Football League Championship play-off final

Bristol City Hull City 0 1
Date	24 May 2008
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Player of the Match	Dean Windass
Referee	Alan Wiley
Attendance	86,703
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The 2008 Football League Championship play-off Final was contested between Bristol City and Hull City. The match was won by Hull City through a 38th-minute goal from Dean Windass. The victory meant that this was the first time in the history of Hull City that they would be competing in the top flight of English Football. The match took place on 24 May 2008 in Wembley Stadium, London.

Route to the final

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
1	West Bromwich Albion  (C) (P)	46	23	12	11	88	55	+33	81	Promotion to the  Premier League
2	Stoke City  (P)	46	21	16	9	69	55	+14	79
3	Hull City	46	21	12	13	65	47	+18	75	Qualification for the  League Championship playoffs
4	Bristol City	46	20	14	12	54	53	+1	74
5	Crystal Palace	46	18	17	11	58	42	+16	71
6	Watford	46	18	16	12	62	56	+6	70

Updated to games played on 4 May 2008
Source: The Football League
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round; (Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament

In the regular season of the 2007-08 Championship, the top 2 teams won promotion to the 2008-09 Premier League automatically. West Bromwich Albion and Stoke City were the top 2, with West Brom promoted as division champions. The 4 teams placed immediately below the top 2 qualified for the Play-offs to determine the final promotion place.

Hull City

Hull City finished 3rd in the Championship, the highest of the teams in the play-offs. It was possible for them to get promoted on the final day of the regular season, but lost to Ipswich Town. Despite a final day loss, they were one of the in-form sides going into the play-offs. They faced Watford in the play-off semi-finals. Watford finished 6th, the lowest of all the play-off positions. Hull beat Watford 2–0 away in the first leg.

11 May 2008 12:30	Watford	0 – 2	Hull City	Vicarage Road, Watford, Hertfordshire Attendance: 14,173 Referee: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire)
		(Report)	Barmby  8' Windass  27'

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14 May 2008 19:45	Hull City	4 – 1	Watford	KC Stadium, Kingston-upon-Hull Attendance: 23,155 Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear)
	Barmby  43' Folan  70' Garcia  88' Doyle  90'	(Report)	Henderson  12'

Bristol City

Bristol City finished 4th in the Championship. They had a strong season, staying in the top 6 from the start of September until the end of the season. Having been promoted to the Championship from League One in 2006-07, they were attempting to become the first team to win successive promotions from the 3rd to 1st tiers since Watford in 1998-99. They faced Crystal Palace in the play-off semi-finals, who finished 5th. Bristol City won the first leg 2–1. Crystal Palace led the second leg 1–0 after the regulation 90 minutes to level the aggregate scores and force the tie into extra time. Bristol City scored twice in the extra time period to progress 4–2 on aggregate.

10 May 2008 12:30	Crystal Palace	1 – 2	Bristol City	Selhurst Park, Croydon, London Attendance: 22,869 Referee: Michael Jones (Cheshire)
	Watson  87' (pen.)	(Report)	Carey  53' Noble  90+2.'

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13 May 2008 19:45	Bristol City	2 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Crystal Palace	Ashton Gate Stadium, Bristol Attendance: 18,842 Referee: Howard Webb (Yorkshire)
	Trundle  104' McIndoe  110'	(Report)	Watson  24'

Match summary

The match was a largely even affair, with Hull-born Dean Windass scoring the only goal at the first half. Towards the end of the game, Bristol City put Hull under a lot of attacking pressure, and Hull City needed Michael Turner to clear Lee Trundle's effort off the line with 5 minutes to go to keep their lead. Hull City held on to win a place in the top flight of English football for the first time in their 104-year history.

Post-match reaction

Hull City manager Phil Brown said "It is very fitting that Dean Windass got the winning goal, I think it was written in the Gods that it would be Dean Windass or Nicky Barmby who would get the winner today.". Goalscorer Windass said that "It feels unbelievable. I don't think there is anyone left in Hull today looking at how many supporters we've got here." Hull City chairman Paul Duffen said "This is fantastic, I think it's amazing. It is something which means a lot to the city of Hull."

Bristol City manager Gary Johnson congratulated Hull, and said that Bristol City would "Bounce back" in the following years. Bristol City chairman Steve Lansdown said that "It's been a great day out for Bristol City football club - it doesn't feel like it at the moment but the future's there and I think we've shown over the last few weeks what this football club can achieve."

Match details

24 May 2008 15:00	Bristol City	0–1	Hull City	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 86,703 Referee: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire)
		(Report)	Windass  38'

Bristol City

Hull City

BRISTOL CITY: GK 1 Adriano Basso RB 2 Bradley Orr 45+' CB 6 Louis Carey (c) CB 4 Liam Fontaine LB 3 Jamie McAllister RM 8 David Noble 63' CM 25 Marvin Elliott CM 10 Nick Carle 76' LM 11 Michael McIndoe CF 35 Dele Adebola CF 23 Lee Trundle Substitutes: GK 13 Chris Weale DF 19 Tamás Vaskó MF 33 Lee Johnson 45+' MF 29 Ivan Sproule 77' 63' FW 34 Darren Byfield 76' Manager: Gary Johnson

HULL CITY: GK 1 Boaz Myhill RB 21 Sam Ricketts CB 15 Wayne Brown CB 6 Michael Turner LB 3 Andy Dawson RM 14 Richard Garcia CM 4 Ian Ashbee (c) CM 11 Bryan Hughes LM 8 Nick Barmby 67' CF 25 Fraizer Campbell 90+3' 90+3' CF 9 Dean Windass 71' Substitutes: GK 12 Matt Duke DF 2 Nathan Doyle MF 22 Dean Marney 90+3' FW 18 Caleb Folan 71' FW 23 Craig Fagan 67' Manager: Phil Brown

Match rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. Penalty shootout if scores still level. 5 named substitutes. Maximum of 3 substitutions.

Statistics

	Bristol City	Hull City
Total shots	21	11
Shots on target	13	4
Ball possession	49%	51%
Corner kicks	2	1
Fouls committed	17	11
Offsides	3	1
Yellow cards	1	1
Red cards	0	0

Source: ESPN

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