Kevin Phillips then scored his 35th goal of the season to put Sunderland ahead but Mendonca doubled his own tally with fewer than twenty minutes remaining.

Nicky Summerbee then gave Sunderland the lead for the third time before Mendonca completed his hat-trick, the first player to do so in a play-off final.

The 1998 play-off final is considered by players, managers, pundits and the media to be one of the most memorable and dramatic games played at Wembley.

An early own goal from Jamie Clapham decided the ill-disciplined match in which nine yellow cards were shown, including two to Charlton's Danny Mills who was dismissed in the 73rd minute.

[3] The return leg was played at the Stadium of Light three days later, Sunderland taking the lead midway through the first half after Nicky Marker deflected a cross-shot from Allan Johnston past his own goalkeeper.

[5] That season, the Charlton manager Alan Curbishley had invested around £1.7 million in his squad, signing Clive Mendonca from Grimsby Town for £700,000.

Other signings included Mills, Matty Holmes and Eddie Youds, while Ilić was acquired on a free transfer from semi-professional team St. Leonards of the Southern Football League (known at that time as the Dr Martens League for sponsorship reasons); he went on to be selected over Charlton's 1996–97 player of the year Andy Petterson.

[6] Before the season commenced, Russell Kempson wrote in The Times that he considered Sunderland to be among the favourites for promotion back to the Premier League, along with Middlesbrough and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

[7] The Liverpool Echo noted that Sunderland had suffered relegation as a result of a failure to score towards the end of the previous season, and Peter Reid's investment of more than £4 million in the transfer market sought to address that issue.

[19] With Charlton's run of nine consecutive clean sheets and a series of 1–0 victories leading up to the final, their captain Mark Kinsella acknowledged the club's reputation for being "boring" but noted "at this stage of the season it's not about the performances, it's about results and we have been coming up trumps".

[20] Kinsella himself had opted to take part in the play-off final in preference to collecting his third cap for the Republic of Ireland in a friendly in Dublin against Mexico two days prior,[21] suggesting the domestic match was "the biggest game in Charlton's history" and that as club captain, he "had to be there".

[20] Before the final, the Charlton board of directors announced that a new West Stand would be complete before the start of the next season and that a new £1 million sponsorship deal with Mesh Computers had been agreed with the newly embellished shirts being worn for the match.

"[11] Previewing the match, Liam Kirk writing in the Irish Independent predicted a close game and that both teams would "satisfy the neutral and both rely on strikers plucked astutely from obscurity".

[23] Irish bookmaker Paddy Power had Sunderland as favourites to win,[24] while former England international Gary Stevens also thought the Wearside club had the advantage.

[25] For Sunderland, Quinn had recovered from a recurring hamstring injury he aggravated in the second leg of the play-off semi-final against Sheffield United, while Phillips was also fit after suffering a thigh strain in the same match.

Towards the end of the half, Lee Clark's shot went over the Charlton goal before Youds' tackle prevented Summerbee from shooting.

Kinsella then came close to scoring from a free kick and Quinn missed a good chance, shooting over the crossbar, before Phillips put Sunderland ahead in the 58th minute.

In the 71st minute, Richard Rufus passed to Mendonca, who took two touches and struck the ball into the Sunderland goal, levelling the match once again.

Phillips was then replaced by Danny Dichio who quickly missed a chance by electing to attempt a volley rather than a diving header from a Summerbee cross.

Pérez missed an attempted clearance on a Robinson corner, having been blocked by Bright,[37] and Rufus was left unmarked to score his first Charlton goal in 165 appearances for the club,[38] and make it 3–3 with five minutes remaining.

A cushioned ball from Quinn found Summerbee who struck a shot from the edge of the penalty area past Ilić.

[39] Mendonca scored the first penalty, followed by Summerbee, Brown, Johnston, Keith Jones, Ball, Kinsella, Makin, Bowen and Rae, to make it 5–5 and take the shootout to sudden death.

Gray's weak shot was then saved by Ilić to his left and the match was over, Charlton winning 7–6 on penalties, and promotion to the Premier League.

"[40] The Sunderland forward Quinn claimed that despite the loss, his team were "the best footballing side in this division" but stated he was "delighted for Charlton because we've battled it out with them all season".

[40] Charlton held a civic reception at Woolwich Town Hall the day after the final, the players making the journey there from the valley on an open-top bus.

[30] After the match Phillips stated that he was staying with Sunderland despite their failure to secure promotion, explaining that "all this transfer talk is a lot of nonsense.

[45] Curbishley's assistant Les Reed left the club after the penalty shootout win to join the Football Association as a technical director;[46] he had made the decision to leave before the final but delayed the announced.

"[27] Miles Kent writing for the Bleacher Report in 2008 called it "Wembley's greatest game" and described the contest as "a tremendous thriller ... [which] has etched itself into folklore as one of the classic matches in the rich history of English football".

[59] The South London Press described Ilić's save and Mendonca's hat-trick as "iconic, indelible moments in Charlton Athletic’s history".

[54] In 2019, Rob Stevens of BBC Sport suggested that the match was "arguably the best play-off final in English Football League history".