The 1992 Associate Members' Cup Final, known as the Autoglass Trophy for sponsorship reasons, was the 9th final of the domestic football cup competition for teams from the

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

and

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

. The final was played at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on 16 May 1992, and was contested by

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Sto ...

and Stockport County. Stoke won the match 1–0, with Mark Stein scoring the only goal of the game.

Background

The 1991–92 season saw both Stockport County and

involved in the race for promotion to the Second Division. The season ended with Stoke in 4th position and Stockport in 5th with just a point separating the two sides. They faced each other in the end of season

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. The first leg saw Stockport win 1–0 thanks to a Lee Todd free-kick and in the second leg at the Victoria Ground Stockport scored in the first few minutes and despite Mark Stein pulling one back Stockport went through 2–1 on aggregate.

Route to the final

Stoke began the competition in the southern section whilst Stockport where in the northern section. Stoke advanced past

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is t ...

2–0 and

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

3–1 and Stockport recovered from a 4–0 defeat at

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Park ...

to beat York City 3–0. In the first round Stoke beat

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

3–0 whilst County gained revenge on Carlisle beating them 3–1. The quarter finals saw Stoke beat Walsall 3–1 and Stockport record a 3–0 win over Hartlepool United. Both sides where then involved in close semi-finals City beating Leyton Orient and County getting the better of Crewe Alexandra winning 2–1. In the area finals Stoke and Peterborough United shared three goals in an exciting 3–3 and a Paul Ware goal earned Stoke a 2nd leg victory. Stockport had an easier tie beating

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River ...

3–1. ''Home teams listed first. ''

Match review

The two sides had met just three days prior the final in the

Football League play-offs The English Football League play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the four association football teams finishing immediately below the automatic promotion places in the second, third and fourth tiers of the English football leag ...

with Stockport coming out on top. County began the first half the better of the two teams and Paul Wheeler had the ball in the back of the Stoke net after six minutes but was disallowed for a foul on Stoke 'keeper Peter Fox. The rest of the first half was end-to-end with Wayne Biggins and

Lee Sandford Lee Robert Sandford (born 22 April 1968) is an English former footballer who made more than 480 first-team appearances as a defender. He played in the Football League for Portsmouth, Stoke City, Sheffield United, Reading and Stockport County. ...

going close for City whilst Fox had to pull off a fine save to deny Wheeler. In the second half, Stockport began to tire and Stoke took full advantage,

Ian Cranson Ian Cranson (born 2 July 1964) is an English former professional footballer for played for Ipswich Town, Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke City. Playing career Born in Easington, County Durham, Cranson began his career with Ipswich Town and made hi ...

hit a long ball forward on 65 minutes only for Lee Todd to clear away but was returned by Vince Overson, leaving

free to flick the ball on to Mark Stein on the edge of the County area. Stein beat two Stockport defenders before smashing a powerful shot past Neil Edwards. Stoke had to withstand pressure from Stockport attacks but held firm to claim their first

Associate Members' Cup The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL L ...

victory.

Match details

References

{{Stoke City F.C. matches Associate Members' Cup Final 1992 EFL Trophy Finals Associate Members' Cup Final 1992 Associate Members' Cup Final 1992 Associate Members' Cup Final