third tier of English football since they were relegated from the First Division in the 1997–98 season. They had featured in a play-off final on one previous occasion when they lost 4–3 to Bolton Wanderers in the 1995 Football League First Division play-off Final. Walsall had been relegated to the Second Division the previous season. They had also played in one play-off final, winning the 1988 Football League Third Division play-off Final against Bristol City after a replay. Reading's top scorers during the regular season were Cureton with 28 goals (26 in the league, 1 in the FA Cup and 1 in the League Cup) and Butler with 26 (24 in the league and 2 in the FA Cup). For Walsall, Leitão had scored 21 (18 in the league, 1 in the FA Cup and 2 in the League Cup) while Angell had 13 (12 in the league and 1 in the FA Cup). During the regular season meetings between the sides, Walsall won the game at the Bescot Stadium 2–1 in November 2000 while the clubs played out a 2–2 draw at the Madejski Stadium the following April. According to Martin Thorpe writing in The Guardian, Walsall had spent £185,000 on players compared to £3.1million by Reading. The referee for the match was Eddie Wolstenholme. Both teams adopted a 4–4–2 formation. As a result of the redevelopment of Wembley Stadium, it was the first time the English Football League play-offs had taken place at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Summary The match kicked off around 3p.m. on 27 May 2001 in front of a crowd of 50,496. The game was goalless for the first half-hour and then Reading took the lead through Cureton. James Harper crossed the ball into Walsall's six-yard area, and it was headed on by Jim McIntyre. It fell to Cureton out and he volleyed it straight at Jimmy Walker in the Walsall goal. Walker parried the ball but it rolled into the goal to make it 1–0. Soon after, McIntyre's header from Sammy Igoe's cross hit the Walsall crossbar with Walker beaten. The half ended with the score 1–0 to Reading. No personnel changes were made by either side during the interval. In the 45th minute, Walsall's Tony Barras was shown the first yellow card of the match. Three minutes into the second half, Walsall levelled the game. Matías' cross was headed back across