In the sixth minute, Gareth Sheldon took the ball round Dean Smith, the Leyton Orient captain, and played a chipped cross to the near post: Scunthorpe's Alejandro Calvo García scored with a header past Scott Barrett.

Scunthorpe's goalkeeper Tom Evans made a number of saves and Martin Ling cleared Darryn Stamp's shot in the final minute of the game.

Chris Brown, writing in The Guardian suggested that the pressure affected the players and that it resulted in "a scrappy goalless match".

[2] Leyton Orient applied pressure on the Rotherham defence in the early stages with a series of corners and Amara Simba twice missed chances to score.

The second half saw an unmarked Danny Hudson miss with a header from a John Varty cross and the match ended 0–0.

Leyton Orient's goalkeeper Scott Barrett saved penalties from both Andy Roscoe and Paul Hurst, and Matt Lockwood scored the decisive goal to give his side a 4–2 win.

[9] Both matches between the sides during the regular season ended in home wins: Leyton Orient won 1–0 at Brisbane Road in October 1998 while Scunthorpe United claimed a 2–0 victory at Glanford Park the following March.

In the sixth minute, Sheldon went round Dean Smith, the Leyton Orient captain, and played a chipped cross to the near post where Alejandro Calvo García headed the ball past Barrett to give Scunthorpe the lead.

Leyton Orient made two substitutions at half-time, with Craig Maskell and Alex Inglethorpe coming on for Stuart Hicks and Richards and started the second half with more pressure.

Maskell passed to Steve Watts but Scunthorpe's goalkeeper Tom Evans gathered the ball at his feet.

In the last minute, Barrett then denied Harsley's attempt to score before Martin Ling cleared Darryn Stamp's shot from the rebound.

"[15] Spanish goalscorer Calvo García said he was unaware of Scunthorpe United before his move from Real Sociedad, but noted "the people there have made both me and my girlfriend very happy, and to clinch promotion at Wembley — you cannot ask for anything more than that.