Guiseley vs Gresley Rovers
The greatest show on earth - Burton News Team
Superlatives are not enough to describe the 1991 FA Vase final between Gresley Rovers and Guiseley. It was certainly the greatest Vase final of all time: one of the most dramatic and exciting matches ever seen at Wembley.
For Gresley and their red and white army of supporters, emotions flew from embarrassment verging on humiliation, desperation, relief, anxiety and celebration.
Embarrassment came in the opening half hour when Guiseley chillingly took them apart and scored three goals.
Desperation followed as chances to make an early reply refused to find the target.
Relief came when Carl Rathbone and Kieron Smith pulled two goals back. Anxiety increased as the minutes ticked away with no equaliser in sight.
Celebration as Kieron Smith forced his cramped legs into a sprint across the Wembley pitch to score a truly sensational injury time equaliser.
Then there was the tension of a much-delayed extra time penalty clinically despatched by the ice cool Stuart Stokes, the mounting fervour of 25 minutes of added time as Rovers' dream of lifting the Vase so nearly reached fruition and finally, with just over one minute on the clock, the agony of seeing all snatched away again by Allan Roberts' last gasp Guiseley equaliser.
Tuesday they go through it all again at Bramall Lane.
Surely no Wembley team's hopes can have sunk as low as Gresley's in that opening 30 minutes.
The game had barely begun when Guiseley, swift, positive and direct right from the off, forced a corner on the right. Gresley keeper Bob Aston opted to punch Billy Roberts' outswinger, but made poor contact - "I just got one hand to it and when it came back in the player didn't hit it properly but it went in off the post," Aston recalled later.
Mis-hit or not, Mark Tennison's shot had given Guiseley the lead, and Gresley made the worst of starts.
Yet there was more to come.
Rovers back four could not cope with the swiftness with which the Yorkshire men turned defence into attack, the directness of right-winger Peter Atkinson opening them up.
Released into a yawning gap in Gresley's flank by Billy Roberts, he soon set up a second, centre forward Dean Walling charging in at the far post to slide in a low shot.
Still Gresley had barely staged an attack, yet their desperation was clear to see when Atkinson broke away yet again. Gil Land's blatant obstruction earning a booking.
Finally a half chance came for Kieron Smith after Gresley's first corner but Guiseley scrambled the ball to safety.
Then a Scott Elliott cross came for Paul Acklam but he shot over from 16 yards. The Gresley striker held his head in his hands.
Still there were hopes of a revival.
But on 30 minutes Walling crossed far post from the right, Tennison shot, Aston saved at the foot of the post and Tennison crashed home the loose ball - 3-0.
Aston said: "That goal should never have stood - the player clearly brought the ball down with his hand. I looked at the ref and the linesman but they said they hadn't seen it."
It looked like a total disaster but straight from the restart Rovers were back in the game.
Acklam crossed from deep on the right and Carl Rathbone forced his way through at the far post to bury an emphatic header.
The great comeback had begun.
Rathbone said: "We had to do something - we couldn't just cave in."
Now there was more grit at the back. Guiseley sought to restore their three-goal lead. Aston twice saving well, and just before half time Gresley should have made it 3-2 when Acklam headed down into Neil Lovell's path after Elliott's cross. It looked a certain goal, but Lovell failed to connect.
"It just took a deflection and went away from me - I felt terrible," he said.
There had to be an early goal after the restart to give Rovers any hope of a revival. And when Richard Denby finally shook himself clear of his marker Alan Roberts on 48 minutes, that goal was superbly delivered, Smith controlling a far post cross from the left and firing unstoppably past Paul Maxted from 16 yards.
Smith said: "I just hit it as best as I could and it went through a defender and in at the far post."
Time began to tick away at a seemingly inordinate pace. Guiseley threatened to seal the game but now Aston was at his superb best.
Then Rovers mounted a late siege.
Surely it was all too late. No! A corner on the right, taken by Denby. Substitute Craig Weston headed it back and there is Smith at the post again, heading into the net.
Wembley explodes -at least, the Gresley section.
Then the moment when Rovers could have clinched it, Steve Adcock crossing and Acklam with a free header, putting the ball firmly into Maxted's midriff.
Extra time, then, and within four minutes a goal.
Denby released Rathbone on the left of the penalty area, defender David Morgan blunders in - a foul! A penalty! It was long delayed as Rathbone received treatment, the kick was finally planted past Maxted by Stokes, cool as you like.
Maybe it was tired legs, but Gresley, instead of seeking a killer fifth now sit back and it almost proved fatal.
Guiseley driven by desperation, powered forward, finding new supplies of energy from somewhere.
With one minute on the clock, substitute Richard Annan took a far post corner from the left, Alan Roberts swings desperately at the ball and loops in a gentle arc over Aston, over the Gresley defence, over the line.
Tomorrow we do it all again at Bramall Lane.
Gresley Rovers (1) 4
Guiseley (3) 4
After extra time. Scores after 90 minutes 3-3
Scorers:Rathbone 32, Smith 48, 90, Stokes 95 (Gresley Rovers), Tennison 2, 31, Walling 9, A Roberts 119 (Guiseley).
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Barry, Elliott (Adcock 55), Denby, Land, Astley, Stokes, Smith, Acklam, Rathbone, Lovell (Weston 72).
Guiseley: Maxted, Bottomley, Hogarth, Tetley, Morgan, McKenzie, Atkinson (Adams 81), Tennison, Walling, A Roberts, B Roberts (Annan 76).
Referee: C Trussell (Liverpool).
Attendance: 11314
