Nine minutes into the first period of additional time, Ged Brannan's shot rebounded to Malkin, who scored to put Tranmere ahead.

The match was even once again, but Bolton took the lead just before half-time: after Bury failed to clear a corner, Philliskirk struck the ball past Gary Kelly.

Both Mark Seagraves and Stuart Storer made goal-line clearances to preserve Bolton's clean sheet and 1–0 win; they progressed to the final with a 2–1 aggregate victory.

Terry Evans opened the scoring for the home side in the 13th minute before two goals from Steve Cooper gave Tranmere a 2–1 lead.

[7] During the regular season, the sides played one another three times; the first match was in the Football League Trophy in November 1990, where Bolton won 1–0 at Burnden Park.

In December the teams played their first league meeting of the season, with Bolton securing a 2–1 home victory, while the return match at Prenton Park the following March ended in a 1–1 draw.

[8] Tranmere had played at Wembley Stadium the previous week when they lost 3–2 to Birmingham City in the Associate Members' Cup Final.

[11] The Tranmere players were incentivised by a £10,000 win bonus from their chairman Peter Johnson, who estimated that promotion to the Second Division would be worth £1 million to the club.

[12] Their team was at full strength with the exception of Steve Mungall and Ian Muir, who were long-term injured, and Neil McNab, who was receiving treatment for a damaged hamstring;[13] Mark Hughes had sustained a groin injury in the build-up to the final but was selected to start.

[16] Three minutes later, Tranmere's Scottish centre forward Jim Steel fell badly and was injured: he was taken off and substituted for Chris Malkin.

[11] Just before half time, Malkin headed in a free kick from John Morrissey, but it was disallowed by Hackett, who adjudged that Tranmere had taken the set piece too quickly.