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Wembley
2000 - The semi-final
Tuesday 23rd
February, 2010
By Richard Ault
Tranmere's cup run had been one hell of an adventure by the time
the semi-final came about, and who else could we have possibly
been drawn against? Bolton Wanderers, obviously.
First
leg
The first leg was to be played at the Reebok Stadium in mid
January. The vast army of Tranmere fans were greeted at
the stadium with heavy rain and long queues waiting for the
turnstiles to open. I will never forget the buzz amongst
the Rovers fans even just waiting in the rain for those
turnstiles to open.
Eventually,
they did, and thousands of Tranmere fans packed into the sold
out away end behind one goal at the Reebok. By kick-off,
incredibly most of the upper tiers of the stadium were empty and
vast areas of seating in the lower tiers remained empty -
puzzling for a semi-final game.
The game
started at a ferocious pace, and Bolton were made well aware of
the task they faced within the opening seconds. Andy
Parkinson raced clear on the right but fizzed his low shot
across goal just seconds into the game, whilst around ten
minutes in Alan Mahon had a goal ruled out for offside, wrongly.
Bolton hit
the post at the other end, but it was a mere flash in the pan.
Up the other end again, Kelly hit the bar, but Rovers weren't to
be frustrated much longer. 22 minutes in, a left wing
corner found its way to Clint on the back post who poked the
ball home. The SWA went wild at the opposite end of the
ground.
The game
swung from end-to-end but Rovers saw it out comfortably to take
the advantage back to Prenton Park.
Second Leg
A packed
out Prenton Park was up for this one. Tranmere were in
touching distance of their first ever major domestic cup final,
which would also turn out to be the final League Cup final at
the 'old' Wembley. This game was massive. The war of
words between John Aldridge and Sam Allardyce was in full flow,
the Bolton manager complaining about the use of towels for Dave
Challinor's long throw-in. He learnt a lot from us though
as he replicated identical tactics in latter years with Kevin
Nolan at Bolton.
Rovers
wasted no time at all taking control of the second leg either.
Just five minutes had elapsed when Tranmere got a throw-in on
the right wing, and that meant only one thing. Challinor
hurled the ball in, Bolton scrambled it to the edge of the box
where Nick Henry steamed in with a stunning left foot volley
that flew into the top corner.
The Kop,
jam packed full of home fans for the first time, went wild.
Those in it that night said it actually felt like it was
shaking.
Bolton were
shell-shocked. They tried to pick themselves up, but it
was a thankless task. On 20 minutes, Scott Taylor's
trickery was halted when he was hauled down in the box.
Referee Graham Poll had no hesitation in awarding the penalty,
and up stepped Alan Mahon to confidently smack the ball past
Banks.
The
histrionics on the touchline between Aldo and Allardyce were
continuing throughout the 90 minutes, but Rovers had this one in
the bag. With 20 minutes on the clock, it was 3-0 and game
over. Quick-thinking Scott Taylor took a quick free-kick
to David Kelly, and Ned just about got enough on the ball for it
to bobble in off the post, Cowshed end of the ground. He
wheeled away to reveal a t-shirt saying 'Super White Army'.
We were
going to Wembley, and there's not a thing anyone could do about
it.
Photos from
the night
Click here
for Radio City commentary from the night
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