Bradford City beat Notts County 2–0 to join Swindon Town and Oxford United in winning promotion to the First Division.

They finished fourth during the regular season and defeated Crewe Alexandra in the semi-final by drawing the away tie and winning by one-goal in the second leg at home.

[2] As a result, in the play-off semi-finals Bradford played third-place Blackpool, whose manager Sam Allardyce admitted his team had thrown away an automatic promotion spot;[3] they finished a solitary point behind Oxford.

[6] Notts County, who had been relegated the previous season having finished in last place in the First Division,[7] came in fourth position[2] to set up a tie against Crewe Alexandra in the other semi-final.

With home advantage at Meadow Lane three days later, they won 1–0 thanks to a goal from Gary Martindale to give them a 3–2 aggregate victory.

[12][13] Kamara's main selection dilemma was in attack where he had to pick a strike partner for Stallard, a player who had joined from Derby County in January for £120,000 and gone on to score ten goals.

Kamara opted for Shutt, who was given only a 50 per cent of playing in the run-up to the match because of a slight knock,[14] with Ian Ormondroyd, a veteran of three play-off finals with his previous club Leicester City,[15] selected as substitute.

[12] Captain Eddie Youds, who overcame a knee problem to return to the team in defence in place of David Brightwell, was the only player not to have played in the second leg against Blackpool.

[16] Notts County's team featured only two of the players that had been relegated the previous season – Tony Agana and Shaun Murphy.

He beat three defenders and, despite the fact he was stumbling, shot past Notts County goalkeeper Ward, with the ball going in after hitting the crossbar.

Just before half-time, Shutt had the chance to double City's lead but his weak shot hit Ward's ankles[12] after good work by Kiwomya.

[12] Between County's chances, Stallard had the opportunity to double City's lead when he capitalised on a slip from Strodder, but Ward saved his effort.

[23] Bradford's daily newspaper the Telegraph & Argus reported that "apart from a 15-minute spell midway through the second half when Notts came close to equalising, City were in complete charge of the game".

[3][12][23][25][27] Jacobs, the Bradford full-back who played 11 years for the club and won a subsequent promotion to the Premier League, said after his career: "I just look back on some amazing times and I was delighted to be part of them.

They were relegated in bottom place the season after the 1996 play-off final defeat,[33] only to win the 1997–98 Third Division title and gain instant promotion.