From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

1988 Football League play-offs

Field	Value
competition	Football League play-offs
season	1987–88
winners	Middlesbrough
(Second Division)
Walsall
(Third Division)
Swansea City
(Fourth Division)
biggest home win	Walsall 4–0 Bristol City
(Third Division)
biggest away win	Notts County 1–3 Walsall
(Third Division)
Bristol City 1–3 Walsall
(Third Division)
highest scoring	Torquay 3–3 Swansea
(6 goals)
matches	19
total goals	50
highest attendance	40,550 – Chelsea v Middlesbrough
(Second Division final)
lowest attendance	4,602 – Torquay v Scunthorpe
(Fourth Division semi-final)
average attendance	16,094
prevseason	[1987](1987-football-league-play-offs)
nextseason	[1989](1989-football-league-play-offs)

(Second Division) Walsall (Third Division) Swansea City (Fourth Division) (Third Division) (Third Division) Bristol City 1–3 Walsall (Third Division) (6 goals) (Second Division final) (Fourth Division semi-final) The Football League play-offs for the 1987–88 season were held in May 1988, with the two-legged finals taking place at the finalists home stadiums. The play-off semi-finals were also played over two legs and were contested by the teams who finished in 3rd, 4th and 5th place in the Football League Second Division and Football League Third Division and the 4th, 5th, 6th placed teams in the Football League Fourth Division table, along with a team from the league above. The winners of the semi-finals progressed through to the finals, with the winner of these matches either gaining promotion or avoiding relegation for the following season.

Background

The Football League play-offs have been held every year since 1987. They take place for each division following the conclusion of the regular season and are contested by the four clubs finishing below the automatic promotion places. For the first three seasons the final was played over two legs but this was changed to a single match at Wembley Stadium from 1990. Additionally, for the 1986–87 and 1987-88 play-offs the semi-finals included a team from the next league who had finished above the relegation positions up, e.g. one team from the first tier and three teams from the second tier. The team from the higher division would be relegated if they failed to win the play-offs, with the play-off winner being promoted in their place.

Second Division

Main article: 1987–88 Football League Second Division

;First Division relegation places:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
18	Chelsea	40	9	15	16	50	68	–18	42
19	Portsmouth	40	7	14	19	36	66	–30	35
20	Watford	40	7	11	22	27	51	–24	32
21	Oxford United	40	6	13	21	44	80	–36	31

;Second Division play-off places:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
3	Middlesbrough	44	22	12	10	63	36	+27	78
4	Bradford City	44	22	11	11	74	54	+20	77
5	Blackburn Rovers	44	21	14	9	68	52	+16	77

Semi-finals

;First leg McCall

Nevin

;Second leg Dixon Durie Chelsea won 6–1 on aggregate.

Hamilton Middlesbrough won 3–2 on aggregate.

Final

Main article: 1988 Football League Second Division play-off final

;First leg Senior ;Second leg Middlesbrough won 2–1 on aggregate and were promoted to the First Division. Chelsea was relegated to the Second Division.

Third Division

Main article: 1987–88 Football League Third Division

;Second Division relegation places:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
21	Sheffield United	44	13	7	24	45	74	–29	46
22	Reading	44	10	12	22	44	70	–26	42
23	Huddersfield Town	44	6	10	28	41	100	–59	28

;Third Division play-off places:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
3	Walsall	46	23	13	10	68	50	+18	82
4	Notts County	46	23	12	11	82	49	+33	81
5	Bristol City	46	21	12	13	77	62	+15	75

Semi-finals

;First leg Shakespeare

;Second leg Bristol City won 2–1 on aggregate.

Walsall won 4–2 on aggregate.

Final

Main article: 1988 Football League Third Division play-off final

;First leg Kelly ;Second leg Shutt Walsall 3–3 Bristol City on aggregate - Walsall won 4-2 on pens to decide who would host the replay. ;Replay Hawker

Fourth Division

Main article: 1987–88 Football League Fourth Division

;Third Division relegation places:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
21	Rotherham United	46	12	16	18	50	66	–16	52
22	Grimsby Town	46	12	14	20	48	58	–10	50
23	York City	46	8	9	29	48	91	–43	33
24	Doncaster Rovers	46	8	9	29	40	84	–44	33

;Fourth Division play-off places:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
4	Scunthorpe United	46	20	17	9	76	51	+25	77
5	Torquay United	46	21	14	11	66	41	+25	77
6	Swansea City	46	20	10	16	62	56	+6	70

Semi-finals

;First leg Caldwell

;Second leg Swansea City won 2–1 on aggregate.

Torquay United won 3–2 on aggregate.

Final

Main article: 1988 Football League Fourth Division play-off final

;First leg Love ;Second leg Caldwell McCarthy Davies Swansea City won 5–4 on aggregate.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1988-football-league-play-offs english-football-league-play-offs

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1988 Football League play-offs — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report