That second leg is regarded by many as the greatest game they have ever seen with Magilton the star man, scoring his only career hat-trick as Town won 5-3 on the night and 7-5 on aggregate.

“Emotionally, physically, all the words that people use when they talk about watching a game of football. That was captured that night, by both sides,” he remembered.

“They had great experience, they had real seasoned pros who if you allowed them to bully you [would get the better of you].

“There was no question they came to bully us. Well, they picked on the wrong man that night, they were never going to bully me. And I maybe had to stand up the younger, lesser experienced lads.

“They were not going to bully us, that was the one thing. And I kept saying it in the changing room, ‘We’re not going to be bullied, do not be bullied this group’, because they had that about them, they could be intimidating. They had big figures, big characters.

“So first and foremost we’re not going to be beaten on that. We were a little bit erratic in our defending, which had always been good. Mogga coming back helped but we weren’t at our brilliant best, if you like, defensively we looked as if we were going to concede goals.

“So going into the game I was thinking ‘We’ve got to score more goals than these tonight’. That wasn’t a reflection on our defence because overall we defended really well, one of our strengths was our defensive quality.

“I just felt going into the game, a game like that, it just had that feel that we were going to have to score more goals than them. And it set it up lovely.

“The night of the game was back and forth, back and forth, two teams going hammer and tongs. Good players after good players and it was just a fantastic game to play in, aggression, combative, but quality, there was real quality. If you see the goals, the goals are quality. We were up against it right up to the dying seconds that night.”

Bolton fans still argue that they were the victims of biased refereeing by official Barry Night with the Blues awarded three penalties - one scored by Magilton, one missed - and having two players red-carded but Magilton believes of those decisions only one of the penalties was debatable.

Going into the final seconds of the 90 Town looked to be tasting play-off semi-final disappointment for a fourth successive year until Magilton, already having netted twice, scored what’s certainly the most famous goal of his career.

“It was the three old stagers, the three eldest,” he recalled. “Veno gets the ball, so right away I’m thinking ‘Where’s Mogga?’.

“Mogga’s peeled off so I’m thinking that Mark Venus isn’t going to miss him, Mark Venus is going to drop it in somewhere in and around the vicinity of Tony Mowbray. 'Get around Tony Mowbray', that’s my only thought, 'Get around him'.

“In those seconds I knew the ball was going to drop to me. I knew it, and I’m not joking. I just knew the quality he had in his left foot.

“And Mogga’s header, when you look back at Mogga’s header it’s one of the best set-up headers you’ve ever seen. He’s strained every sinew, every sinew in his neck to drop it.

“He’s dropped it and honestly, people never think about that but the knockdown is unbelievable.

“I left the marker, Franck Passi, he came on as a sub, and it kind of dropped to me and as it dropped to me I knew I was scoring. I knew I was scoring because it felt like slow motion.

“As it dropped, ‘Knee, volley, knee, volley’ that’s all I kept thinking, and aim through the defender’s legs. I know people are going to laugh, but I just thought it was either going to sit up and I was just going to volley it over his head, or I was going to drill it down, so those were the two options going through my head at the time, in that clarity.

“I had so much clarity going into the game. I had a full understanding, one, that I wasn’t going to be bullied and, two, that I was going to play, we had to be able to play, we had to show that we could stand up to them not only physically and aggressively but also that we had the technical ability to win the game, which we did.

“We had technical footballers in the team. It was just giving them the confidence to go and say ‘Right, us against you, fine’. We had really good players.

“As it dropped I’ve taken the second option, down, then through his legs, goal and the place erupted. It still raises the hairs on the back of my neck. You could feel the relief more than anything, the emotion.

“There was great quality, it was a great game to play in and then obviously there was extra-time.

“We dominated extra-time, they went down to nine men, they lost their discipline and we had taken over, we had taken charge of the game, albeit with Wrighty having to make a great save from Claus Jensen. That gives them something more to hang on to.

“They were a top side and they deserve credit for that night too because they were so close to going to Wembley. And they went up the next year.”

And on to Wembley and Barnsley, who had beaten Birmingham in the other play-off semi-final.

“On to Wembley, I remember sitting in the dressing room after the semis and I remember thinking that we were playing against a really top side in Barnsley.

“They went to Birmingham and battered them [4-0 in the play-ff semi-final first leg], so right away I’m already thinking about Wembley, I’m already thinking Barnsley. I’m thinking about the Craig Hignetts of this world, the Neil Shipperleys, Geoff Thomas, they’re good players that we are against. So that was my focus, even though it was an incredible evening, an incredible night.

Photo: Action Images

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