1996 Football League First Division play-off Final

Martin O'Neill (pictured in 2012) was Leicester City manager.

This was Crystal Palace's second appearance in the second tier play-off final, having won the 1989 final (over two legs) against Blackburn Rovers.[7] Leicester were appearing in their fourth second tier play-off final. They had lost in both 1992 and 1993 but having promotion to the Premiership two years prior, winning 2–1 against Derby County in the 1994 final.[7] Both clubs were aiming for an instant return to the Premiership having been relegated in the 1994–95 season when they finished in the bottom four.[8] In the meetings between the two clubs during the regular season, the away side each time: Crystal Palace won 3–2 in October 1995 while Leicester secured a 1–0 victory the following April.[9] Leicester City's top league scorers were Iwan Roberts with 19 goals and Emile Heskey on 7.[10] However, Roberts had not played since 9 April when he sustained a rib injury against West Bromwich Albion.[10][11] Although it was reported in the media that Roberts had recovered, he was not selected for the squad for the play-off final.[10][12] Robins had scored 10 goals in all competitions for Leicester City, with 6 in the league and 4 in the 1995–96 Football League Cup.[13] Dougie Freedman had scored the most goals for Crystal Palace during the regular season with 20, all in the league, while Dyer was second-top scorer with a total of 14 goals.[14]

Crystal Palace's Dave Bassett was seeking the seventh promotion of his managerial career.[5] He had taken over at the club four months prior to the final, and led them from sixteenth in the league to third with a run of just four defeats in twenty-two games.[6] O'Neill had been Leicester manager since December 1995 when he left Norwich City after claiming the chairman Robert Chase was not providing sufficient financial support.[15] Despite criticism from fans who were dissatisfied with Leicester's style of play during O'Neill's early tenure, and failing to win in his first nine matches, the team ended the regular season undefeated in their last seven games and qualified for the play-offs on the final day.[16][17] O'Neill had experience of managing a team at Wembley when he led Wycombe Wanderers to victory in the 1994 Football League Third Division play-off Final and two FA Trophy victories.[18]

There was speculation in the media that if Leicester failed to be promoted, they would sell Heskey, with Liverpool being favourites to buy him.[19] Conversely, should Leicester be promoted, it was reported that O'Neill would make a bid for Keith O'Neill who he managed when at Norwich City.[20] Leicester City's defender Taylor had played for Reading who had lost the previous season's First Division play-off final, and he was keen to make amends, saying: "It's an awful feeling to be beaten at Wembley ... I'm bursting for the opportunity to put it right".[21] Leicester City's Steve Walsh, who had featured for his club in their previous three play-off finals and scored three times, was resolute: "Winning is the only thing ... You cannot enjoy losing any final. After so much hard work, after all you've gone through, it's awful."[17]

It was anticipated by Thomas Russell in The Guardian that Rob Quinn would make his third start for Crystal Palace.[22] He had replaced the injured Leif Anderson in the second leg of their play-off semi-final against Charlton Athletic.[21] Martyn, the Crystal Palace goalkeeper, was to play despite carrying an elbow injury for which he needed corrective surgery, while Hopkin remained an injury doubt.[23] The final was broadcast live in the United Kingdom on ITV as part of The Big Match programme.[24] Crystal Palace were considered by bookmakers to be the favourites to win the final.[25][26] The referee for the match was David Allison from Lancaster.[27] Crystal Palace adopted a 3–5–2 formation while Leicester played as 4–5–1.[28]

The final kicked off around 3 p.m. on 27 May 1996 in front of a crowd of 73,573. Leicester dominated the early stages of the game but Palace took the lead on 14 minutes: Andy Roberts struck the ball from the edge of the box past Kevin Poole in the Leicester goal.[28]

In the second half, Poole saved a shot from George Ndah and then almost immediately defended a volley from Freedman. In the 76th minute, Walsh passed to Izzet who was brought down in the Palace penalty area by Marc Edworthy. Martyn managed to get a hand to the spot kick but it was not enough to stop it going in and levelling the score at 1–1. Veart then cleared Walsh's header off the line with three minutes of regular time remaining, and the game went into extra time. In the final minute of the additional period of play, Leicester made their final substitution of the game to bring on 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) tall goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac in anticipation of a penalty shootout.[28]

With less than a minute remaining, Claridge struck the winning goal from a Julian Watts header. Eleven seconds after taking the lead, the referee blew the final whistle, with Leicester winning 2–1 and gaining promotion to the Premier League.[28]