The second leg took place three days after the first game, Selhurst Park was jumping and our fans were amazing. We won 2–0 to go through to the play-off final. I scored one of the goals and happily Ian got the other.
Job done, and the player who made those comments didn’t exactly have a great time. We didn’t go out of our way to target him, but let’s just say that we took any opportunity we got to make his life a misery that night.
Every time he was tackled he really felt it, and any chance we had to physically get to him, we did, whether he had the ball or not. Winning was the most important thing, but making sure he had a nightmare of a game was a bonus for all of us.
_**Fast-forwarding to the second leg of the ‘89 play-off final, after Palace had lost 1-3 to Blackburn in the first leg at Ewood Park, Bright looks back on one of the most iconic results in the club’s history.**_
Once again, the atmosphere at Selhurst Park for the return leg was incredible. It was even better than it had been against Swindon, the place was packed and the noise was deafening.
Ian sent the fans wild with a goal in the first half that reduced the deficit and then a couple of minutes into the second half we were awarded a penalty. It was a big moment for us and an even bigger one for Dave Madden as he stepped up to take it. You could feel the tension around the ground, but Dave didn’t let it affect him and calmly slotted it home with his right foot.
With most of the second half still to play we were on level terms, and it started to look as though we would be able to go on and win it, but after 90 minutes we were still level and we went into extra-time. It was nailbiting stuff. Obviously both teams wanted to win it but, at the same time, the longer a game like that goes on the more conscious you are of not wanting to make a silly mistake.
There were just a few minutes left in the second period of extra-time when Eddie McGoldrick somehow managed to cross the ball from the right and Ian got between two of their defenders to head it into the far corner of the goal. The crowd went mad and some of them ran onto the pitch.
The match wasn’t over, there were still a couple of minutes left to play, but both teams knew the goal had won it and there was no coming back for Blackburn. When the final whistle blew the fans streamed onto the pitch once more and we were mobbed by them. They were amazing scenes and it was a fantastic feeling to be part of it all.
After coming so close the season before and then missing out on automatic promotion we had battled our way through the play-offs and come from behind to make it into the First Division. All the players had dreamed of playing against the top teams, of going to places like Old Trafford, Anfield and Highbury.
I’d had a taste of it at Leicester and even though it hadn’t worked out for me, I still knew I could do it at the top level. I was better equipped to play in the First Division than I had been before, and I knew that Ian and could do well as a partnership playing at a higher level.
I also knew that getting promotion was a dream come true for him. In four years, he’d gone from playing Sunday football in a local south London league to being a First Division footballer. It really was amazing.