their play-off semi-final. They lost John Bumstead to an injury midway through the first half, but opened the scoring after a minute of the second half when Gordon Durie curled a shot around Blackburn's Terry Gennoe. Pat Nevin later doubled the lead, and the match ended 2–0 to Chelsea. In the second leg, both sides missed chances early on before Kevin Wilson scored a volley for Chelsea after 26 minutes. Kerry Dixon redirected the ball into the goal with his thigh 10 minutes into the second half to give Chelsea a four-goal advantage in the tie, and although Scott Sellars pulled a goal back for Blackburn, Chelsea added two more late goals through Wilson and Durie to secure a 4–1 victory in the match, and Chelsea progressed to the final 6–1 on aggregate. For their semi-final, Middlesbrough also journeyed away from home for the first leg, visiting Bradford City's Valley Parade ground. Both sides had chances in the first half, but the match remained goalless until the 67th minute, when Karl Goddard scored for the hosts. Middlesbrough equalised a minute later, through a header from Trevor Senior, but Bradford retook the lead almost immediately when Stuart McCall scored from close-range. After three goals in three minutes, no more were scored, and the match finished 2–1 to Bradford. In the second leg, a goal from Bernie Slaven gave Middlesbrough the lead in the 35th minute, and the match remained 1–0 at the end of 90 minutes: 2–2 on aggregate. Going into extra time, Middlesbrough added a second goal almost immediately; the Bradford City defender Lee Sinnott missed a cross by Colin Cooper, which fell to Gary Hamilton who put it in the net. Stephen Pears, the Middlesbrough goalkeeper made two saves from Ian Ormondroyd in the 111th minute, and his side held on to claim a 3–2 aggregate victory. In his history of the club, Richard Piers Rayner describes watching that match from the terraces as among his favourite moments as a Middlesbrough fan. Match details First leg Summary The play-off final first leg was played at Middlesbrough's Ayresome Park, in front of a crowd of 25,531. Keith Hackett was chosen to referee the fixture; The Guardians David Lacey rated him as the Football League's best. Middlesbrough had a chance at goal early in the match; Slaven beat Chelsea's offside trap and set-up Senior, but the Chelsea goalkeeper, Kevin Hitchcock managed