FRANNY WAS THE GOLDEN BOY FOR DONNY

WHEN DONCASTER ROVERS ETCHED THEIR NAME IN FOOTBALL HISTORY

- CHRIS DUNLAVY

TODAY, Francis Tierney is largely forgotten, at least outside Doncaster. Yet the 45-year-old will forever hold a rather unique distinction.

On May 10, 2003, at Stoke City’s Britannia Stadium, the winger scored an injury-time winner to settle the inaugural Conference play-off final. In doing so, he made Doncaster Rovers the only team in UK history ever to be promoted thanks to a Golden Goal.

“Winning like that… it’s almost impossible to describe,” recalls Dave Penney, the Donny manager that day. “One second you’re focussed on the game. The next, bang – it’s all over. I’ve won and lost games in lots of ways but nothing quite like that. It’s a euphoric feeling.”

And losing?

“It’s soul-destroying,” says Ashley Vickers, who played as a central defender for beaten finalists Dagenham & Redbridge. “They are the only words for it. I had more highs than lows in football but that one was the hardest to take.”

Conceived a decade earlier, the Golden Goal rule was a response to the conservatism that had dogged Italia 90, particularly during a knockout stage that saw four goalless periods of extra time.

Originally branded ‘Sudden Death’ before receiving a PR makeover, the rule was simple: score the first goal in extra time and you win the game.

FIFA, the architects of the scheme, hoped to incentivize attacking play; in practice, the fear of conceding a decisive strike far eclipsed the prospect of scoring one and, by 2003, the Golden Goal experiment was on its last legs.

Doncaster’s triumph was its final hurrah, and it came at the genesis of a new era in NonLeague football.