1991 Football League Fourth Division play-off final
association football match
The 1991 Football League Fourth Division play-off final was an association football match played on 31 May 1991 at the Wembley Stadium, London, between Blackpool and Torquay United. The match determined the fifth and final team to gain promotion from the Football League Fourth Division, English football's fourth tier, to the Third Division. The top four teams of the 1990–91 Fourth Division season gained automatic promotion to the Third Division, while those placed from fifth to eighth in the table took part in play-offs, the semi-final winners of which competed for the final place for the 1991–92 season in the Third Division. Blackpool finished in fifth place while Torquay ended the season in seventh position. Burnley and Scunthorpe United were the losing semi-finalists, being defeated by Torquay and Blackpool respectively.
The match was refereed by George Courtney in front of a crowd of 21,615. Paul Groves opened the scoring for Blackpool with an angled shot from 8 yards (7.3 m) following a pass from Mark Taylor after seven minutes. Torquay equalised on 28 minutes after a cross from Mark Loram was headed past Steve McIlhargey, the Blackpool goalkeeper, by Wes Saunders. In the 37th minute, Dave Bamber was adjudged to have handled a cross from Paul Holmes in the Blackpool penalty area and Dean Edwards scored the penalty make it 2–1 to Torquay at half time. After the interval, Blackpool dominated the game and scored the equaliser in the 76th minute with an own goal from Chris Curran, and the match ended 2–2 and went into extra time.
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