to overtake their opponents in the league table and leave them in eighth place, one point outside the play-off places. In the play-off semi-finals, Gillingham were paired with sixth-placed Rochdale and Shrewsbury with fourth-place finishers Bury. Each semi-final was played on a two-legged basis, with one game at each team's home stadium and the result determined based on the aggregate score of the two games. The first leg of Gillingham's semi-final, played at Rochdale's Spotland Stadium on 7 May 2009, finished in a 0–0 draw; BBC Sport commented that "the two sides largely cancelled each other out". The first leg of the other semi-final, played on the same day at Shrewsbury's home ground, New Meadow, was decided by a late own goal from Shrewsbury's Neil Ashton, who accidentally lobbed the ball over his own goalkeeper Luke Daniels to give Bury a 1–0 win. The second-leg matches took place three days later. At Gillingham's Priestfield Stadium, Simeon Jackson scored from a cross by Andy Barcham to give Gillingham the lead in the 13th minute, only for Chris Dagnall to equalise for Rochdale in the 36th minute. Jackson scored a second goal with a penalty kick in the 58th minute after John Nutter had been fouled by Rory McArdle. Gillingham thus won the match 2–1 and won their semi-final on aggregate by the same score. Gillingham manager Mark Stimson was quoted as saying that reaching the final was just reward for his players' commitment throughout the season. At Bury's Gigg Lane, Shrewsbury goalkeeper Daniels saved a penalty kick by Bury's Phil Jevons and Kevin McIntyre scored a goal for the away team in the 88th minute to level the aggregate score at 1–1 and require extra time to be played. Shortly after the start of the extra period, Shrewsbury's Steve Leslie was sent off. With no further goals being scored in extra time, the semi-final ended in a draw and a penalty shoot-out was required to decide which team would advance to the final. Daniels saved penalty kicks from Bury's Andy Bishop and Danny Racchi and Shrewsbury won the shoot-out and thus reached the final. Shrewsbury manager Paul Simpson singled out Daniels for praise and commented on his team's "sheer guts and determination". Background The match was Gillingham's first appearance at the new Wembley Stadium, which opened in 2007, although the club had played at the previous stadium of the same name