STFC Team 1986 / 87
1986/87 Final League Table
The Swindon fans were also in good heart for the 2nd leg, selling out the home sections. Interest was not running so high in Lancashire, with only limited numbers of Latics fans making the journey, and even Wigan Chairman Bill Kenyon could not face making the trip to Wiltshire. This was never going to be the greatest of spectacles, with Lou Macari’s teams’ main priority being to preserve the winning position that had been built up so dramatically in the 1st leg. There was a scare in the 13th minute when Wigan struck a post. With so much at stake, it was obviously going to be a tense occasion. However, the Town defence held firm and gave the Latics few opportunities after that. Indeed, with the exception of the difficult start at Springfield Park, the Swindon rearguard had been fairly secure, this included keeping out the free scoring Paul Jewell, who would later in his career become the Towns’ Director Of Football.
Swindon did have chances with Quinn, Coyne and Bamber all going close to relieving any lingering doubts that they would see the game out successfully. Bamber was very unfortunate to have a late headed goal ruled out for a foul that only referee Allan Gunn appeared to notice. In the end, it didn’t matter. Swindon had just recorded their 13th game unbeaten and in the process had set up a final appearance against Gillingham
Gillingham had earned their place in the 2 legged final by courtesy of away goals scored in their semi-final clash with Sunderland, with the aggregate scores
standing at 6-6 after 3-2 and 4-3 home wins at Priestfield and Roker Park respectively. The format of the initial play-offs saw the team finishing just above the automatic relegation places in the league above, joining the 3 teams that were vying for promotion. In this case, Sunderland had just completed a season in the 2nd tier and as such would have expected to get past their Kent opponents. It was clear that Swindon would need to keep a very close eye on one player, as Tony Cascarino had netted 5 of those 6 Gills goals.
As in the semi-final the first leg was away, with 3,000 Town fans making the journey for what was a sell-out fixture. Not only was there the excitement of the play-offs to contend with but there was also the added spice of the rivalry that existed between the 2 teams, following on from a couple of ill-tempered games in the 1978/1979 season, when both teams had been in an ultimately unsuccessful promotion race. On a lighter note, the fixture also threw up a strange quirk of fate. Striker Dave Bamber was to directly face his soon to be brother in-law, Gillingham centre half Colin Greenall.
It looked like Bamber would gain the early bragging rights, however his 17th minute goal was ruled out for off-side. The pattern of the game that ensued was probably best summed up by the post-match Evening Advertiser headline: “THIS HAS TO BE A TRAVERSTY”.
The Town were generally on top, and they were creating chances, with Bamber, Chris Kamara and Steve Berry all going close. The normally reliable Jimmy Quinn had also missed a free header. A late first half injury resulted in Quinn being replaced by Charlie Henry at the start of the 2nd half, meaning that they were now missing 2 of the semi-final goalscoring heroes, as Peter Coyne had also missed the game through illness. This didn’t stop Swindon pouring forward, as they looked to take a lead back to the County Ground. Despite not really being in the game at the time though, it was Gillingham who were to score. They were awarded a controversial 81st minute set-piece just outside the box, when Mark Jones was harshly judged to have handled the ball. The free kick was rolled to Smith who drove a shot through the Town wall and past the unsighted Fraser Digby. This sparked mass celebrations in the Gillingham end and proved to be the only goal of the game.
It was a disappointing result, but the Town knew that they were still very much in the final.
Following Friday nights efforts, there was a quick turnaround again, with the 2nd leg taking place on the bank holiday Monday. The game came around too quickly for Jimmy Quinn as Fridays’ injury ruled him out, however Peter Coyne had recovered from illness to take his place in the Swindon attack.
Manager Macari had called on “fan power” to help the team claw back the 1 goal deficit and go on to secure promotion, the home faithful didn’t disappoint. The game was a sell out and produced a fantastic atmosphere, on a truly memorable County Ground occasion.
This was to be a game where the Town would continuously bombard the Gills defence, being kept at bay only by the woodwork and some inspired goalkeeping from Kite. They were however, stunned in the 17th minute, when Carl Elsey produced a superb volley. Swindon found themselves 2 goals behind for the 2nd time in this end of season drama. Just as at Wigan, they had to find a way back and incredibly, they did just that.
After coming close so many times, they finally struck with less than 30 minutes remaining. Peter Coyne fired home his 2nd play-off strike and Town laid siege to the Gillingham goal. The richly deserved equaliser arrived in the 80th minute, when local boy Charlie Henry fired home an unstoppable shot, which saw the County Ground erupt. Just as in all good dramas, this one had many twists and turns, and one of them was the fact that substitute Charlie was only on the pitch due to him coming on for the injured Chris Kamara. The last 10 minutes played out without any further goals and much to the relief of the Town fans, away goals did not count in the final.
The intention was that the 2 legs would decide the play-off winner, however in this case a deciding third game would be required, the very least that this gutsy Swindon side deserved!
The deciding match was to take place at Selhurst Park, normally the home of Crystal Palace. Bearing in mind that the match would take place just 4 days after the 2nd leg excitement at the County Ground, ticketing organisation left a lot to be desired. It was initially decided that the match would not be all ticket, as the 40,000-stadium capacity would be more than enough to cope with demand. However, much to the frustrations of both the club and the Swindon fans, there was a U-turn on this decision following on from further Police advice, with just three days to go. This advice was at least in part related to an initial decision by a Supermarket store, situated at one end of the stadium announcing that they would not close early on the evening of the game (A decision they later reversed).
The showdown was now to be watched by an all-ticket crowd that was capped at 20,000. For some fans, this meant a 2nd trip to the County Ground for tickets, having initially decided not to stay in the cue, after being informed that they would be able to pay on the day. Despite the chaos in an age where physical tickets had to be purchased, the Town sold out their allocation and 10,000 fans would make the Journey to London.
After 4 matches against each other in the season to date, Swindon had the edge going into the final game, winning 2 of them and drawing 1. The game had to be decided on the night, with extra-time and penalties looming if the scores were level at 90 minutes. The team would go into the game missing 2 extremely influential players in Chris Kamara and Jimmy Quinn, however, they would not let this derail their quest for back-to-back promotions.
The Town had the best possible start, scoring after just 2 minutes (their quickest goal of the season and the first time they had scored 1st, for 8 matches). This sparked mass celebrations amongst the travelling Wiltshire contingent and set the tone for the tremendous noise that was created throughout the game. It was fitting that the goal came courtesy of a Phil King freekick, that was flicked on by Charlie Henry and finished by Steve White, 3 Town players who are many years later, still held in highest esteem by Town supporters.
Other chances came and went during the first half where the Town could have effectively sealed the win. The half time break seemed to help the Gills players, and the early part of the 2nd half saw them enjoy their best spell of the final so far. This led to Fraser Digby making his first real save of the match in the 50th minute, keeping out a Cascarino header. They also went close on a couple of other occasions, with Swindon playing more on the counter at this stage. The decisive moment came in the 65th minute, White took a looped Bamber ball on his chest and finished smartly past Kite, his former Bristol Rovers teammate.
At 2-0, it felt like it would be very difficult for the Gills to turn things around and despite rallying, they were unable to find a goal to get them back in the match. There was irony in Whites 2nd goal, Dave Bamber had made the 2-0 / Steve White double prediction, with his teammates prior to the game. Not only was he proving to be an effective clairvoyant in setting up the 2nd goal, buthe also ensured that White would finish on 21 goals for the season – 1 ahead of Bamber himself.
The final whistle was met with an explosion of joy amongst the Town fans and players, who were joined on the pitch by Lou Macari as they celebrated what was a much-deserved victory over the 3 legs. The singing went on for a full 30 minutes after the match and capped what was truly one of the most memorable nights in the club’s history. Whilst this was a special time for all the players, it was particularly great for keeper Fraser Digby. He now had a play-off winners medal to add to the recently acquired player of the year trophy and just a few days later would keep a clean sheet for England under 21s in a draw against Russia.
As is the way in the play-offs, the result brings both joy and heartbreak. Manager Keith Peacock, his staff (including future Town boss John Gorman) and the players, had been 10 minutes away from creating Gillingham history with a place in the 2nd tier of English football for the first time but were left to rue what might have been.
However, few could begrudge Lou Macari and his team their fantastic achievement of a 2nd successive promotion.
Whilst there was very little TV coverage of the inaugural play-offs, the impressive numbers of Swindon Town fans who experienced them at first hand, would not easily forget the excitement that they generated and realised that the football authorities may well have created something very worthwhile.
In some quarters, the play-offs had been approached from a very sceptical viewpoint. Indeed, although Lou Macari was justifiably proud of his team’s achievement, he made his feelings clear even whilst talking to the media straight after the Selhurst Park drama “I never want to go through a night like that again, the play-offs are unfair and should be scrapped” were his exact words. The clubs’ view was also in line with their managers, with the first ever play-off home programme containing a Chairman’s comments section that carried the headline “PLAY-OFFS ARE NOT THEANSWER”.
Time has gone on to prove that they really have been the answer, delivering on the intended benefits for over 35 years. The first 4 season alone, were to yield additional lower league attendances in excess of 1,000,000 fans each year (a trend that was not seen in the top division at the time).
The play-offs were set to see lots more of Swindon Town and it now seems almost unthinkable that a football league season would conclude
without them.