that too many players were ill or injured for the club to field a full team, but their appeal was rejected. The 3-point deduction on Middlesbrough also preserved Coventry City's top flight status for the 31st season running. Brighton survive in relegation decider Brighton & Hove Albion had a traumatic season, the debt-ridden club propping up the League for virtually the entire season. Their precarious financial position had forced the club's directors to sell the Goldstone Ground. Yet on the penultimate day of the season they moved above Hereford United, another club with major financial problems, and the final day of the season saw the two clubs battle it out in a relegation-decider at Edgar Street. Hereford needed to win while Brighton only needed a draw to survive. At half time the score was 1–0 to Hereford but Brighton equalised in the second half against the run of play. The match finished 1–1 and, with the teams level on points, the Seagulls stayed up on goals scored while the Bulls were relegated to the Conference. Chesterfield reach the FA Cup semi-final Chesterfield, playing in the third tier of English football, reached the FA Cup semi-final. On the way to the semi-final they beat Nottingham Forest 1–0 and Bolton Wanderers 3–2, with a hat trick from a young Kevin Davies. In the semis they met Middlesbrough at Old Trafford. After going 2–0 up Boro bought it back to 2–2, but not after controversy when Jonathan Howard's shot hit the underside of the crossbar and clearly crossed the line, but was waved off by the referee despite the linesman calling it in. The match finished 3–3 AET and Chesterfield went on to lose the replay 3–0. Boro's win however led to a defeat in the FA Cup Final, in which a season later they became the first team to lose three domestic finals in a row. Stockport County Stockport County, also playing in the third tier of English football, reached the Football League Cup semi-final. In the first round they beat Chesterfield 4–2 over two legs. In the second round they defeated Division One team Sheffield United 7–3, also over two legs. The third round they came up against former Premier League champions Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park winning 1–0 in front of a large away crowd. In the fourth round they met West Ham United, drawing the first tie 1–1 at