3rd tier* Play off Semi-final 2nd leg
*Then known as Division Three

Notts County 2      Bolton Wanderers 0
Johnson 2
Bartlett 66
 

Aggregate score:- Notts County 3 Bolton Wanderers 1

Attendance:- 15,200
Referee:- R.F Nixon (West Kirby)
Weather:- Sunny/clear spells
Corners:- Notts 7 Bolton 9
Goal attempts on target:- Notts 6 Bolton 4
Goal attempts off target:- Notts 6 Bolton 7
Bookings:- Turner (Notts) for a foul
 

Notts County
Colours:- Black and white striped shirts with yellow trim, Black shorts, White socks
Final League Position:- 3rd/24
Manager:- Neil Warnock

1.   Steve Cherry
2.   David Norton
3.   Nicky Platnauer
4.   Charlie Palmer
5.   Dean Yates
6.   Phil Robinson
7.   Dean Thomas
8.   Phil Turner
9.   Kevin Bartlett
10. Gary Lund
11. Tommy Johnson

Subs not used
 

Bolton Wanderers
Colours:- Red shirts, White shorts, Red socks
Final League Position:- 6th/24
Manager:- Phil Neal

1.   David Felgate
2.   Phil Brown
3.   Barry Cowdrill
4.   Scott Green
5.   Mark Came *
6.   Mark Winstanley
7.   Stuart Storer +
8.   Steve Thompson
9.   David Reeves
10. Tony Philliskirk
11. Juilian Darby

Sub: Dean Crombie *45
Sub: John Gregory +77

Video of the match:- Central Television recorded the match but only for a goals report on that night's "Central Sports Special", Play off matches from all 3 divisions were played on the same night in those days and TV coverage was therefore focussed on the 2nd tier matches. "Central News East" also screened a report the following day - This shows; Tommy Johnson scoring in front of the Kop following a corner plus an action replay of the goal from behind the Meadow Lane end / Turner's free kick hitting the bar and Lund over-head kicking the re-bound over / 2nd half; Cherry making a save from Philliskirk / Dean Thomas sending Bartlett clear to score 2-0 plus an action replay of Bartlett's goal from behind Meadow Lane end.
 

Nottingham Evening Post Reports

MAGPIES’ MAGIC
COUNTY OFF TO WEMBLEY
By John Lomas

NOTTS COUNTY finally booked the first ever trip to Wembley in their 128-year history on a night of high emotion and drama at Meadow Lane last night. Goals from Tommy Johnson and Kevin Bartlett sealed a 2-0 win against a gutsy Bolton Wanderers side in the second leg of their Division Three play-off semi-final - the Magpies winning 3-1 on aggregate after laying the foundation in Sunday's draw at Burnden Park. Tranmere Rovers, a 2-0 win over Bury booking their second Wembley trip of the campaign, now stand between Neil Warnock's men and a return to the Second Division.
With so much at stake, it was never going to be a classic encounter in terms of controlled football. But Notts' biggest crowd of the season saw a string of chances at both ends and helped create a marvellous atmosphere. The final whistle brought jubilant' celebrations by both players and supporters as the emotional agony that had been bottled up since last month's Leyland Daf Cup semi-final exit at home to Bristol Rovers was finally released.

STERLING WORK
Missing out on Wembley then may have seemed like the end of the world at the time. But Notts would have gladly swapped that trip for a game that offers a much higher prize than silverware at the end. Johnson and Bartlett may have been the goal heroes last night. But Notts' defence deserved as much thanks with Dean Yates outstanding and Steve Cherry equal to anything the Trotters' feared pairing of David Reeves and Tony Philliskirk could throw at him, Charlie Palmer also did sterling work alongside Yates after Craig Short failed a late fitness test. There were still supporters streaming in through the turnstiles when Johnson gave County a dream start with a goal in less than two minutes. Dean Thomas sent a corner from the right deep towards Gary Lund who headed down and back across goal. Bartlett made the first lunge towards it. But it flew towards Johnson at the far post who cracked it right-footed high into the net. Goal No.2 in 66 minutes was crucial as it came at a time when a Bolton equaliser was beginning to look an inevitability rather than a possibility. Thomas again set the wheels in motion when he curled a marvellous through-ball over the defence into Bartlett's path. The striker had suffered badly against Bolton's offside trap in Sunday's first leg. But he timed his run to perfection on this occasion and despatched the ball with a curling right rooter over the 'keeper.

LOW CROSS
After his early strike, Johnson could have added a second in 11 minutes when he cut in from the right and forced Felgate to dive full-length to keep his shot out of the far corner. Reeves touched back Stuart Storer's low cross from the right two minutes later for Philliskirk to blaze over. Notts regained their grip and Bartlett had Felgate diving again as he stretched to meet a ball knocked in by Phil Turner. Turner was so unlucky in 28 minutes when he curled a superb free kick from just outside the box onto the crossbar. Palmer headed it back in and Lund was just over with a spectacular overhead effort. Palmer ghosted in to beat the offside trap from County's next free kick only to send a diving header into the side netting. And Felgate excelled himself as half-time approached as he turned over a ferocious 25-yard scorcher from Lund one-handed. But Bolton were far from dead and buried. Cherry had already made one good save from Reeves near the end of the half and was quickly in action as Wanderers started the second half like an express train. Steve Thompson crossed from the right and Philliskirk met it with a superb angled header that looked a goal all the way until Cherry somehow clawed it off the line. Within a minute, he had saved bravely at the feet of both Philliskirk and Julian Darby. But the second goal proved the killer and full-time brought joyous on-the-pitch celebrations as Notts emerged from the shadows of neighbours Forest - who have used Wembley as a second home recently - to book a glory day of their own which will be an historic day for the League's oldest club. And as Notts finished 18 points clear of Wanderers in the Third Division, no-one can say they don't deserve this tilt at a return to Division Two.
 

VERDICT ON THE BIG MATCH
“WE MUST GO UP FOR THE FANS”

NOTTS County chairman Derek Pavis (who took a crate of champagne into the dressing room after the game): "It was right to celebrate the League's oldest club getting to Wembley for the first time. Wembley is an occasion. But as far as we and the team are concerned it's a football match we are playing there on Sunday week - and it's crucially important that we win it. We've got to get into the Second Division for gate receipts and for our supporters, who are fed up with watching Division Three opposition. The 15,200 that turned up at Meadow Lane last night was fantastic. It proved to me that the Nottingham public, who 1 knew supported the club commercially, would get out of their armchairs and encourage us to Wembley"

Dean Yates: "It's a dream come true to play at Wembley, I was a ball boy there for an England -Scotland international and I vowed that one day I must try and get back as a player."

Tommy Johnson (on the first goal): "It made up for the two I should have scored at Bolton, when I was a bit nervous with my chances."

Kevin Bartlett (on the second goal): "Dean Thomas played a superb through ball and I just had to think of a way of getting it past the advancing 'keeper. Because pace is a forte of mine I get quite a bit of experience of one against one situations."

Phil Robinson (who played for Wolves at Wembley in the Sherpa Van Trophy): "I've been telling the lads for some time that I would make sure we didn't get lost en route. It's a great place to play.”
 

WARNOCK’S WAY
"Warnock's Way" was a regular column that Neil Warnock wrote for the Evening Post.

BACK US UP
WE AT Notts County must not go to Wembley on May 27 just to make the numbers up. That was the gist of my message to the players after their marvellous performance in beating Bolton. Second Division football is at stake and accomplishing that is more important than playing at the national stadium. Opponents Tranmere Rovers will be favourites with experienced people like Neil McNab, Jimmy Harvey and Jim Steel. Tranmere are also playing at Wembley this Sunday, when they meet Bristol Rovers in the Leyland Daf Cup final, so they will know an about the atmosphere. Yet, I honestly prefer Tranmere to Bury. We were beaten 2-0 at Tranmere on March 19, but since then we've improved a lot as a side. I want as many football fans in Nottingham as possible to stream down the M1 and give us their support. At Bolton last Sunday there was a coach load of Nottingham Forest fans supporting us. How marvellous that was and I would like to see more at Wembley willing a Nottingham side through. It was so exciting to see 15,000 at Meadow Lane last night, and there's no doubt that the crowd kept us going when we had to defend for 15 minutes after half time.
I felt so privileged at being around for a second piece of football history. I was Scarborough manager when they became the first club to gain automatic promotion to the Football League. And now I'm the first manager to have been around when Notts got to Wembley. While the squad is good I should like to pay tribute to physio David Wilson, who is an unsung hero. I don't think you can count more than five times this season when a pro has missed a game and that's amazing. Dave's worth his weight in gold. The chairman has his critics, but he deserves a lot of the credit for the club's progress so far.

Up the Maggies footnote:
Having remained a loyal season ticket holder through all of Notts' five frustrating season's in the 3rd tier (which is a long time to suffer when you're a teenager), I was absolutely DESPERATE to see Notts promoted, it felt as though my future sanity depended on it. County had not finished lower than 9th since being relegated in 1985 and had occupied an automatic promotion place for lenghty periods during four of those five season's - only to miss out in the final reckoning, which, in a curious way, felt more painful than relegation. We had also lost out in two Associate Members Cup area finals in that time which had denied the club a debut appearance at Wembley. I remember feeling extremely nervous at kick off, but at the same time more confident than two years earlier when Notts had last entered the play off's (In contrast to May 1988 when Notts had lost 5 of their last 8 league matches, Notts of May 1990 were unbeaten in their final 12 league fixtures). On the night, we had the dream start and I then had to fight back tears of relief when Bartlett netted no.2, but the joy at the final whistle was soon tempered by the realisation that we would have to go through it all again in 11 days time at Wembley. At least we were finally there and promotion was now firmly within our grasp.
 

Notts County Season 1989/90
Up the Maggies home page