Doncaster 1  Andy Warrington 2  Simon Marples 3  Tim Ryan 4  David Morley 7  Francis Tierney 9  Paul Barnes 11  Jamie Paterson 16  Tristram Whitman 19  Ricky Ravenhill 20  Paul Green 23  Steve Foster Substitutes 5  John Doolan 6  Mark Albrighton 13  Stuart Nelson 26  Gregg Blundell 30  Jason Blunt

Goals Green Stein Morley Mustafa Tierney   Stats 15 Goal Attempts 9 10 On Target 6 5 Off Target 3 0 Hit Woodwork 0 7 Corners 7 Cards Yellow Ryan McGrath Ravenhill Matthews Red None None

Dag & Red Tony Roberts  1 Tim Cole  2 Lee Goodwin  4 Mark Janney  7 Paul Terry  8 Danny Shipp  9 Mark Stein  10 Lee Matthews  17 Steve West  15 Tarkan Mustafa  19 John McGrath  26 Substitutes Ashley Vickers  3 Mark Smith  5 Steve Heffer  6 Danny Hill  14 Paul Gothard  18

Dagenham yet again became the nearly men. After both sides had endured golden goal and penalties to get into the final, it was familiar territory as the game went past its normal ninety minutes. Doncaster came out with the goal that was, in so many ways, golden.

The Daggers had an unchanged side again, Hill and Vickers coming onto the bench for Broom and Potts however. Doncaster had their strongest line-up on the pitch. It was Donny who started the brighter.

Jamie Paterson was causing all the problems and shot at Roberts early on from long-range. The Daggers had a chance on the break with Janney's cross just beating everybody, and then another Mustafa cross just too quick for Stein who poked it wide. Roberts had to make a brilliant one-on-one save with his feet from Barnes to keep the scores level however.

The majority of Doncaster's other shots were coming from range and Roberts was fairly comfortable with them. However, Donny were having most of the ball in the Daggers' half as their sharpness was too much for the boys in blue. Lee Goodwin had a great chance to open the scoring with a free header from a corner but he put the ball at a defender who deflected wide. McGrath also came onto a cross and shot over the bar.

It was Doncaster who took the lead. Tim Ryan swung it over from the left side and Green rose above Paul Terry who had tracked him back to head past Roberts. The second half soon saw it get worse.

Roberts made a great save to his left to push away Paterson's shot after he had found space only a few yards out. The corner couldn't be kept out though as Foster rose above Paul Terry and although McGrath tried his best on the line, the ball was in the back of the net. This seemed to finally get the Daggers going and they managed toi come back into it.

Soon after, Warrington had to be alert to get back and push a West header over the bar as it threatened to drop in. Minutes later West won a header again, this time to send Stein away. He buried it past the keeper in typical fashion. Some excellent football preceded a Shipp shot that was deflected just wide as the Daggers were in the ascendancy. They changed it round to go to a back three, letting Mustafa go forward more.

It had almost instant effect. After some good play, Terry played a superb outside-of-the-right-boot pass behind Ryan and into the path of Mustafa. He took it on and guided it past Warrington from the right hand side of the box to make it all square. Janney then hit one wide, and the game went into extra time.

It was fairly even and neither side wanted to go all out in case of letting in the winner. The Daggers were still doing well. Then it came, the golden chance. Would it be the golden goal? Unfortunately no. Mustafa got down the right again and it was West at the back post. The ball beat all the defenders, West was 10 yards out. He went to head it, and mistimed the nod. The ball scraped his head and went wide with the goal gaping.

Green went very close with second left of the half as he tried a curler from the side of the penalty box that went just wide of the far post. Doncaster only needed 4 minutes of the second half. The ball inside Cole beat him for the first time all day. The cross was to the middle of the box, and there was only Tierney there. He guided it home to put Doncaster in the Football League.

The pitch was invaded by one or two thousand Donny 'fans' who decided it would be fun tp run the length of the pitch to goad the Daggers fans in stark contrast to the scenes at the end of the semi-final between Daggers and Morecambe. This was in addition the the number of people in the Doncaster end who were arrested during the game. The decent fans sang 'off the pitch' at the end as the presentation couldn't go on, but it still marred the moment for them. The Daggers were distraught and the players couldn't hide their disappointment, as neither could the fans. Surely the luck must change in the end?

A huge thankyou from DaggerNet to the players this season who have tried so hard to get into the Football League.