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After 74 agonising minutes of football, the stage was set for arguably the most important penalty Burnden Park ever saw.
May 8, 1993, and what had been a tense, bitty affair rested on a single spot kick – given somewhat controversially for a handball by Preston defender Simon Burton.
More than 21,000 faces looked on at talismanic striker John McGinlay in hope, knowing direct promotion rivals Port Vale were winning their game at Blackpool and only three points would be enough for Bruce Rioch’s Super Whites.
With Wanderers in action against Lancashire rivals Preston North End again on Friday night, we decided to raid the archives and bring you a flavour of one of the most important games in the club's modern history.
“There were lots of nerves, put it that way,” said the Scot, to The Bolton News 14 years later. “I knew what was riding on it. And you could feel the tension in the air.
“I knew that score and I’d be on cloud nine but if that goal didn’t go in it could have given Preston a lift, something to hang on to.”
Not for the first, or the last time, McGinlay came through for Bolton.
But while many remember the noise when his spot kick beat Simon Farnworth and hit the back of the net or the joyous celebrations thereafter, the game itself has faded in significance.
Rioch’s side had won many fans with their free-flowing football in an 18-game unbeaten streak at the end of the 1992-93 campaign but circumstances made that particular match a poor one to watch.
“It was a terrible game,” he recalled to The Bolton News. “We had been flying at the time. We knew to stay in touch we needed to win every single week and that brought a lot of pressure.
“John Beck was in charge at Preston and he put 10 men behind the ball at all times. They were belting balls out of play, wasting time, pulling every trick they could to make sure they didn’t lose the game. They had to get something out of it to stay up but in the end that negativity cost them.
“David Lee was flying and he’d created all sorts of chances, balls going across the penalty box and no-one getting a touch, it was bobbling about all over the place and at one stage I thought ‘this is just going to be one of those days.’ “But then it happened. Didsy takes a player on and puts a ball in, gets a dubious penalty for handball and that’s the chance. It’s handed to us on a plate.
“Everyone thought we were going to roll straight over them because of how well we’d been going and it wasn’t that type of game.”
86 pics from the game at Source
May 8, 1993, and what had been a tense, bitty affair rested on a single spot kick – given somewhat controversially for a handball by Preston defender Simon Burton.
More than 21,000 faces looked on at talismanic striker John McGinlay in hope, knowing direct promotion rivals Port Vale were winning their game at Blackpool and only three points would be enough for Bruce Rioch’s Super Whites.
With Wanderers in action against Lancashire rivals Preston North End again on Friday night, we decided to raid the archives and bring you a flavour of one of the most important games in the club's modern history.
“There were lots of nerves, put it that way,” said the Scot, to The Bolton News 14 years later. “I knew what was riding on it. And you could feel the tension in the air.
“I knew that score and I’d be on cloud nine but if that goal didn’t go in it could have given Preston a lift, something to hang on to.”
Not for the first, or the last time, McGinlay came through for Bolton.
But while many remember the noise when his spot kick beat Simon Farnworth and hit the back of the net or the joyous celebrations thereafter, the game itself has faded in significance.
Rioch’s side had won many fans with their free-flowing football in an 18-game unbeaten streak at the end of the 1992-93 campaign but circumstances made that particular match a poor one to watch.
“It was a terrible game,” he recalled to The Bolton News. “We had been flying at the time. We knew to stay in touch we needed to win every single week and that brought a lot of pressure.
“John Beck was in charge at Preston and he put 10 men behind the ball at all times. They were belting balls out of play, wasting time, pulling every trick they could to make sure they didn’t lose the game. They had to get something out of it to stay up but in the end that negativity cost them.
“David Lee was flying and he’d created all sorts of chances, balls going across the penalty box and no-one getting a touch, it was bobbling about all over the place and at one stage I thought ‘this is just going to be one of those days.’ “But then it happened. Didsy takes a player on and puts a ball in, gets a dubious penalty for handball and that’s the chance. It’s handed to us on a plate.
“Everyone thought we were going to roll straight over them because of how well we’d been going and it wasn’t that type of game.”
86 pics from the game at Source
