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Third Division Play-Off Final - 6/5/02 - Millennium Stadium
Having suffered the heartache of missing out on automatic promotion on the final day of the regular season, Cheltenham secured Division Two status with a fantastic performance at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
After a nail-biting semi-final victory over Hartlepool, Steve Cotterill's men earned the right to face old foes Rushden & Diamonds in the showpiece play-off final after the Diamonds had defeated Rochdale over two legs in their semi.
Two of the key figures in the club's rise, Chris Banks and Lee Howells were ruled out through injury, but with over 17,000 fans cheering them on, Cheltenham took the lead after 27 minutes.
Martin Devaney, who had not been a regular in the side, repaid the faith shown in him by his manager by producing a man-of-the-match performance on the left wing and it was the Cheltenham-born player who opened the scoring.
Devaney bamboozled Diamonds' left-back Tarkan Mustafa and tore into the penalty area. He then took the ball past Mark Peters and played a 'one-two' with Rushden's Garry Butterworth before beating Billy Turley from an acute angle.
Cheltenham were then guilty of a lapse in concentration as they seemed to still be celebrating the opening goal when Paul Hall ran straight through the middle and beat Steve Book almost unchallenged.
Onandi Lowe looked dangerous in attack for Brian Talbot's side and Book had to be on top form to keep the scores level at the break. If the first half was a relatively even display, Cheltenham raised their game in the second period and took almost complete control of the match.
Top scorer Julian Alsop was proving the be a handful against his old Bristol Rovers team mate Andy Tillson and Alsop hit his 26th goal of the season shortly after the interval. Lee Williams and Antony Griffin linked up on the right and Alsop nodded down a deep cross to Tony Naylor. Naylor was challenged by Tillson, but the ball broke to Alsop who made no mistake from close range.
Neil Grayson, instrumental in the Robins' promotion from the Conference three years earlier was given his chance to help them make another step up the footballing ladder coming off the bench after 75 minutes. If did not take long for Grayson to make an impact in what was to be his last game for the club. Williams' pass found the Yorkshireman on the left and his rasping drive rattled the bar and rebounded to John Finnigan, who composed himself and curled a well placed shot around Turley to make the game safe after 80 minutes.
After a long, hard season, which started slowly, but produced a record-breaking FA Cup run, Cheltenham were in the Second Division. It was hard to take in for many fans, who could look forward to visiting clubs such as Swindon and Bristol City when five years previously they were travelling to Baldock and Ashford Town.
It was another memorable occasion for the Robins and Rushden boss Brian Talbot showed great sportsmanship after the match, visiting the Cheltenham dressing room to congratulate the team on what was a thoroughly deserved victory.
Cheltenham Town (1) 3 (Devaney 27, Alsop 49, Finnigan 80)
Rushden & Diamonds (1) 1 (Hall 28)
Cheltenham: Book, Griffin, Victory, Duff, Walker, Williams, Yates, Finnigan, Devaney (Grayson 75), Naylor, Alsop.
Rushden: Turley, Mustafa, Underwood, Peters, Tillson, Gray (Brady 69), Wardley, Butterworth, Hall, Lowe, Partridge (Angell 69).
Referee: Mr AR Leake
Attendance: 24, 368