The 2000 Football League Trophy Final (known as the

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Shield for sponsorship reasons) was the 17th final of the domestic football cup competition for teams from the

Second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

and

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of the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

. 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 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 Stoke ...

. 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

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 Nicky is a diminutive form of the name Nicholas, Nicola and Nicole, occasionally used as a given name in its own right. It can also be used as a diminutive of Dominic. It may refer to: People Sports * Nicky Adams (born 1986), English-born Wels ...

and Brian Tinnion. The second match at Ashton Gate also ended in a draw this time 2–2 with goals from

Kyle Lightbourne Kyle Lavince Lightbourne (born 29 September 1968) is a Bermudian professional association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward for Scarborough F.C., Scarborough, Walsall F.C., Walsall, Coventry City F.C., ...

, Graham Kavanagh and a brace from

Tony Thorpe Anthony Thorpe (born 10 April 1974) is an English former professional footballer and former manager of Melton Town As a player he was a striker. He notably played for Luton Town, Bristol City and Queens Park Rangers. He also played in the Fo ...

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 Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

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 Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

on penalties as Stoke beat

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2–1. The semi-finals saw Bristol City cruise past Reading 4–0 whilst Stoke needed a late goal from

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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

. It looked to be working but with 15 minutes left

Paul Holland Paul Holland (born 8 July 1973) is an English former footballer who made over 300 appearances in the Football League for Mansfield Town, Sheffield United, Chesterfield and Bristol City and was capped two times for the England U21s, playing alon ...

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 Louis Anthony Carey (born 22 January 1977) is a former professional footballer who played as a central defender, mostly for Bristol City. Carey, who was born in Bristol, was eligible to play for Scotland at international level through his grandp ...

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

References

External links

{{Stoke City F.C. matches EFL Trophy Finals Football League Trophy Final 2000 Football League Trophy Final 2000

Trophy A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achievement, and serves as a recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are often awarded for sporting events, from youth sports to professional level athletics. In many sports medals (or, in ...