3rd tier* Play Off Final
*Then known as Division Two

Bradford City 2     Notts County 0
Hamilton 8
Stallard 73
 

Attendance :- 39,972
Referee:-  G. Singh (Wolverhampton)
Weather:- Dry
Corners:- Bradford 4 Notts 5
Goal attempts on target:- Bradford 4 Notts 4
Goal attempts off target:- Bradford 4 Notts 5
Bookings:- Murphy (Notts) 13, Strodder (Notts) 17, Richardson (Notts) 46 all for fouls, Shutt (Bradford) 69 for dissent
 

Bradford City
Colours:- Amber & Claret stripes, Black shorts, Claret socks
Final League Position:- 6th/24
Manager:- Chris Kamara

G.   Jonathon Gould
D.   Nicky Mohan
D.   Wayne Jacobs
D.   Richard Huxford
D.   Eddie Youds
M.  Graham Mitchell
M.  Lee Duxbury
M.  Des Hamilton *
M.  Andy Kiwomya +
F.   Carl Shutt
F.   Mark Stallard

Sub: Ian Ormondroyd *71
Sub: Tommy Wright +71
Sub not used: David Brightwell
 

Notts County
Colours:- All Yellow with black trim
Final League Position:- 4th/24
Manager:- Colin Murphy & Steve Thompson

G.   Darren Ward
D.   Shaun Derry
D.   Ian Baraclough
D.   Shaun Murphy
D.   Gary Strodder
D.   Ian Richardson
M.  Steve Finnan
M.  Paul Rogers
M.  Tony Agana
F.   Gary Martindale
F.   Tony Battersby

Sub: Gary Jones *82
Sub not used: Graeme Hogg
Sub not used: Mike Pollitt (GK)
 

Video of the match:- Extended highlights were shown in the Central and Yorkshire ITV regions that night.
 

QUOTES FROM COLIN MURPHY
"We've played this season in a certain way we didn't always like. We thought it was the best course of action to get the club back up in one go. We were as close as a whisper - now we want to change the way we play next season. The trouble against Bradford was that we didn't settle properly until the second half. We knew, because of our inexperience, that if we didn't settle early on there could be problems and their early goal made life difficult for us. We lost the boy, Hamilton, on the run - three defenders could have prevented it - then their second goal was against the run of play and just before that, the goalkeeper made an outstanding save from Tony Battersby. I'd thought we were going to score and get into the game. I couldn't fault the desire, discipline and application but I was disappointed at the first half performance. Full marks to Bradford, they have some good footballers and a lot of experience in their side."

THE GOALS
1-0
A long ball down the right from Huxford was headed into the path of Hamilton by Carl Shutt. His first touch was decisive as he immediately took out two Notts players, Agana and Baraclough. He then sidestepped a lunge by Gary Strodder which left him clear in the penalty area. At this point he stumbled, but then recovered well to hit an unstoppable shot past the flaying arms of Darren Ward in the County goal.
2-0
Another long ball from Huxford was headed on by Ormondroyd for Mark Stallard to volley over the line.
 

Up the Maggies footnote:
In spite of the cataclysmic relegation the season before, I had renewed my season ticket for the 13th consecutive year and went to every home game of 1995/96 including the FA & League Cup ties. The season began well enough, it was nice to see Notts regularly winning again and near the top of the table, but new manager Colin Murphy then began selling all of our favourite players. Gary McSwegan, Steve Nicol, Gary Lund, Chris Short, Devon White, Andy Legg and Paul Devlin all left during the course of this season. By mid-February - for the first time since I'd begun supporting the club in 1982 - I found myself no longer looking forward to matches (following a series of negative displays, particularly against Wrexham & Peterborough - both of which Notts undeservedly won 1-0). By the end of March I began to feel that I just didn't want to be at Meadow Lane anymore, I was bored and could barely be bothered to cheer a goal. It was ironic that, having watched a catalogue of unjust defeats and terrible referee's over the years, Notts now seemed to be having all the luck in the world at a time they least deserved it. The fact that we were 4th going into April just seemed laughable. Other fans evidently felt the same way as, even though we were pushing for promotion, the gates had now slumped to around 4,500. I remember a night match with Brighton who were 2nd bottom and doomed to relegation, they absolutely played us off the park, we were total garbage yet somehow still managed to win the game 2-1. Notts luck continued in the play off's, Crewe did everything but score in the 2nd leg at Meadow Lane after Notts had snatched a last minute equaliser in the away leg. It was Gary Martindale who booked Notts yet another trip to Wembley (County's 5th in 6 years) with a brilliant volley on 61 minutes to win the home leg 1-0 (3-2 on aggregate), yet only 9,640 turned up to see it. It was obvious then that Notts would not be taking as many supporters to Wembley as they had in previous Play off finals, there wasn't anything like the same level of excitement or anticipation and even manager Colin Murphy said that we had to go to Wembley and not enjoy the day but get a result - So it was just going to be another away match. In contrast, County's Play off final opponents had made it to Wembley for the first time in their history on the back of an incredible play off semi-final turnaround v Sam Allardyce's Blackpool - Bradford had lost the 1st leg 2-0 at home, but won the away leg 3-0! At Wembley Bradford would enjoy the encouragement of vastly superior numbers of support (around 30,000 as opposed to 10,000 from Nottingham). I had been to both of Notts' previous Play Off finals and also the Anglo-Italian final v Brecia, but I was not there in 1996. Some friends of mine couldn't make it and part of me just didn't fancy going on my own, but a bigger part of me knew that we were going to lose this one. Notts had rode their luck all season but it just did not seem right, or possible, that we would ultimately be able to look back on such a dull campaign (overseen by such an unpopular management duo) ending in glory. Bradford City had finished 5 points below Notts, but we in turn had finished 4 points below Blackpool, so there was no sense of injustice as I listened to Colin Slater's commentary describing the unfolding misery that had been threatening to engulf the club all season, it sounded horrendous and quite frankly I was just relieved that I wasn't there - I even turned the radio off after the 2nd goal went in (ironically scored by a future Meadow Lane favourite). I told myself that I just didn't care anymore, it was a way of preparing for the inevitable bad news that would no doubt be displayed on Ceefax shortly before 5pm. Upon gazing at the final score on the Television screen, I decided there and then that I wouldn't be renewing the season ticket for 1996/97, I'd go to the opening home match of the new season and then see how things went, but there was no way I was going to commit myself to another 23 matches under Murphy and Thompson in the 3rd tier.
 

Notts County Season 1995/96
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