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2000 Football League Trophy Final

Event	1999–2000 Football League Trophy
Bristol City Stoke City 1 2
Date	16 April 2000
Venue	Wembley, London
Referee	K.M.Lynch (Kirk Hammerton)
Attendance	75,057
← 1999 2001 →

The 2000 Football League Trophy Final (known as the Auto Windscreens Shield for sponsorship reasons) was the 17th final of the domestic football cup competition for teams from the Second and Third Division of the Football League. The match was played at Wembley on 16 April 2000, and was the last Football League Trophy final to be played there before the stadium closed for redevelopment. The match was contested by Bristol City and Stoke City. The match was won by Stoke City, with Graham Kavanagh and Peter Thorne scoring in the 2–1 victory.

Background

The 1999–2000 season saw both Bristol City and Stoke City involved in the race for promotion to the First Division. Stoke had been in the top six for most of the campaign whilst Bristol battled with city rivals Bristol Rovers to gain a play-off spot. The two sides had played each other twice before the final. Firstly on 14 November 1999 at Stoke's Britannia Stadium the score ending 1–1 with goals from Nicky Mohan and Brian Tinnion. The second match at Ashton Gate also ended in a draw this time 2–2 with goals from Kyle Lightbourne, Graham Kavanagh and a brace from Tony Thorpe.

Route to the final

Both sides had a fairly easy route to the final, Bristol City were handed a first round bye whilst Stoke over came Darlington 3–2 thanks to a Kyle Lightbourne golden goal. Bristol City beat Cheltenham Town 3–1 in the second round and Stoke overcame Oldham Athletic again via a golden goal. In the quarters Bristol City eased past Bournemouth on penalties as Stoke beat Blackpool 2–1. The semi-finals saw Bristol City cruise past Reading 4–0 whilst Stoke needed a late goal from James O'Connor to progress. In the area finals Bristol City beat Exeter City 5–1 over two legs and Stoke won equality as easily beating Rochdale 4–1.

Match review

Over 75,000 fans packed into Wembley to see Bristol City take on Stoke City in the Football League Trophy final for which Stoke fans dedicated to Stanley Matthews who had died in February 2000. Stoke made the bright start of the two sides enjoying a decent amount of possession and took the lead through Graham Kavanagh after 32 minutes after his shot beat the Robins 'keeper Billy Mercer at his near post. Leading 1–0 Stoke dropped deeper in the second half as they looked to cancel out the threat from the dangerous Scott Murray and Tony Thorpe. It looked to be working but with 15 minutes left Paul Holland headed in a corner to make the scores 1–1. However it was Stoke who had the final say, a counterattack by Stoke was halted when Bjarni Guðjónsson was fouled by Louis Carey to conceded a free-kick. Whilst Bristol complied about the awarding of the free-kick, Guðjónsson played a quick pass to Kavanagh who crossed in to Peter Thorne to earn Stoke their third win at Wembley.

Match details

Bristol City	1–2	Stoke City
Holland 74'		Kavanagh 32' Thorne 82'

Bristol City

Stoke City

GK 2 Billy Mercer DF 6 Louis Carey  87' DF 27 Andy Jordan DF 46 Keith Millen DF 3 Michael Bell MF 17 Aaron Brown  68' MF 26 Scott Murray MF 10 Paul Holland MF 11 Brian Tinnion FW 20 Peter Beadle FW 21 Tony Thorpe Substitutes: GK 15 Steve Phillips DF 43 Kevin Amankwaah  87' DF 32 Matt Hill MF 33 Joe Burnell FW 34 Damian Spencer  68' Manager: David Burnside

GK 1 Gavin Ward DF 5 Nicky Mohan DF 15 Mikael Hansson DF 22 Clive Clarke MF 2 Brynjar Gunnarsson MF 8 Graham Kavanagh MF 17 James O'Connor MF 25 Bjarni Guðjónsson MF 36 Arnar Gunnlaugsson  62' FW 9 Peter Thorne FW 12 Kyle Lightbourne  89' Substitutes: GK 14 Carl Muggleton DF 32 Anders Jacobsen DF 34 Richard Dryden  62' MF 35 Steve Melton FW 31 Chris Iwelumo  89' Manager: Guðjón Þórðarson

References

1. "Wembley glory for Stoke City". BBC Sport. 29 June 2000. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
2. ^ "Stoke honour Sir Stan with Wembley win". The Sentinel. 5 May 2013.

External links

• EFL Trophy finals
• Bristol City F.C. matches
• Stoke City F.C. matches
• 1999–2000 Football League
• April 2000 sports events in the United Kingdom
• 2000 sports events in London
• Sports events at Wembley Stadium