Mick Leonard, the Chesterfield goalkeeper, was ruled to have carried the ball out after attempting to catch a misdirected shot, and conceded a corner.

Dublin out-jumped Chesterfield's defenders to head in Chris Leadbitter's set piece and make it 1–0.

Chesterfield finished their following season in 18th position in the Fourth Division, with their manager Paul Hart being sacked mid-season.

John Beck took over as manager of Cambridge United in January 1990 after Chris Turner resigned on medical grounds.

[2][3] Cambridge United's performance in the league was affected by their progression in the FA Cup where they were finally knocked out at the quarter-final stage by Crystal Palace, having played ten matches in the competition during the season.

[4][5] At that point, in March, they were in fourteenth place in the Fourth Division,[2] but seven wins in their last nine games saw them make it into the play-offs on the final day of the regular season.

Calvin Plummer put the home side ahead in the 37th minute with a header before scoring from a John Chiedozie cross before half time.

Plummer scored his fourth play-off goal and Chiedozie doubled the lead for Chesterfield, who won 2–0 and progressed to the Wembley final with a 6–0 aggregate victory.

[11] The first 90 minutes ended goalless which sent the match into extra time; there, goals from Dublin and Cheetham (another penalty) ensured a 3–1 aggregate win for Cambridge and qualification for the final.

[14][16] Writing in The Guardian, Cynthia Bateman described that the first half of the match was "of such little excitement that the Chesterfield fans, too far away to take on the Cambridge supporters, began fighting among themselves".

Mick Leonard, the Chesterfield goalkeeper, was ruled to have carried the ball out after attempting to catch a misdirected shot, and conceded a corner.

"[2] His counterpart Paul Hart was less enthusiastic about the approach, suggesting that the team in fourth place should secure automatic promotion, but conceded that the play-offs had enabled his side "a second bit of the cherry".