Match From The Day – Notts County 1988 Play Offs

Memory Lane Walsall Web Fans looks back at the Play Off Semi Finals between Walsall and Notts County in the 1987-88 season. Walsall finished the league Division Three season in 3rd spot on 82 points, just two points behind runners up Brighton And Hove Albion. The Saddlers would have gone up automatically themselves had they not lost five of their last six away games. Walsall had beaten Notts County 2-1 on April 30th but crashed 0-3 at Bristol Rovers next game. With Walsall only managing a 0-0 draw with Gillingham on their final game of the season and Brighton beating Bristol Rovers in their last game Walsall had to be content with the torment of the play offs. To be fair Brighton won seven of their last eight games to pip Walsall. Saddlers may have fallen apart on away soil but finished the season with a home league record of eighteen games unbeaten.

Notts-co-kelly The first leg was at Meadow Lane on Sunday May 15th, 1988. Walsall were hoping to find their shooting boots after not scoring in their final two league games of the season but fell behind after just 90 seconds. It was down to some horrendous defending as little winger Adrian Thorpe (who later joined Walsall) got free on the left and big central defender Dean Yates was left totally unmarked to head home past Fred Barber. This early blow was perhaps just the kick up the backside that the team needed to turn the game around to get a lead to take back to Fellows Park. It may have taken them till the 40th minute to get back into the game but what a cleaver goal it was from goal machine David Kelly. He had already impressed Tottenham and Derby County and Walsall had turned down bids of £350,000 for the 22 year-old and on this day Manchester United were keeping tabs on the Eire international at Meadow Lane. His cheeky back heel from Craig Shakespeare’s cross completely deceived home keeper Mick Leonard-and everyone else in the ground! He had endured a quiet game up to that point and had earned himself a booking from referee Keith Hackett for an unwise comment.

notts-richard-okelly By ten minutes into the second half Walsall found themselves 3-1 up with the large contingent of Saddlers fans amongst the crowd of 11,522 going crazy at the turnaround that had unfolded before them following the early setback. Within 92 seconds of the restart Walsall had taken the lead. From Willie Naughton’s cross Trevor Christie (who had previously played for the home side) knocked the ball down for Craig Shakespeare to slot home. Kelly completed the scoring in the 55th minute. After being put clear by Richard O’Kelly’s flick on, he steered the ball home despite being fouled in the box before he shot home. Thankfully the referee played the advantage so the goal stood.

A couple of minutes later however, Hackett riled the Walsall players and fans alike as in a rush of blood Ian Mc Parland (who a couple of years later joined Walsall on loan) head butted Graeme Forbes but the ref didn’t see it neither did his linesman. Wayne Fairclough then appeared to stamp on Fred Barber as he was on the deck and a dozen players squared up over the incident. David Kelly came close to a hat trick in the final stages but his effort went just wide of the post. At the end of the game Walsall manager Tommy Coakley described ‘Ned’ as “World class.” His brace took him to 25 goals for the season for his club to go with his 4 for Eire.

The starting line ups at Meadow Lane were…

NOTTS COUNTY – Leonard, Mc Stay, Withe, Fairclough, Yates, Birtles, Mills, Mc Parland, Lund, Pike, Thorpe.

WALSALL – Barber, Taylor, O’Kelly, Shakespeare, Forbes, Goodwin, Hawker, Hart, Christie, Kelly, Naughton.

Notts-co-trev-christie Following the great comeback in the first leg at Meadow Lane, the second leg at Fellows Park on Wednesday May 18th, 1988 was something of an anti-climax for those expecting a repeat performance. Walsall seemed quite edgy in the opening minutes and fell behind to an early goal in the 12th minute. It was that man Dean Yates again as the 20 year-old again headed home after Garry Birtles had flicked on a Gary Mills cross. County’s early goal should have inspired them to have a real go to force a big comeback over the legs but Birtles, who had been pushed into attack for this game simply didn’t have the support he deserved up front. County were put out of their misery on the hour mark as Trevor Christie, who had played really well over the two games, shot past Leonard following a good move involving Andy Dornan, Richard O’Kelly and David Kelly. There were no more goals so with this match ended in a 1-1 draw. Saddlers progressed 4-2 on aggregate and faced Bristol City in the final. The gate at Fellows Park was 8,901 with the home fans chanting ‘ Going up, going up’ towards the end of the game. Notts manager John Barnwell, who was destined to manage Walsall a year later, was sour faced as he told the press. ” Walsall will not go up. They are not good enough.” Walsall boss Tommy Coakley observed, “I think we have done the job very well. We put in a superb performance on Sunday at Notts County and we finished it off tonight.”