Back in February and with eight weeks left of a roller coaster season, promotion for Rovers Reunited looked very much a pipe dream following a humiliating 5-1 Valentine's Day massacre against Inter Solent. However, a stunning run of form with seven victories in a row took Rovers from fourth to top of the table and needing a point from their final game to secure promotion. However, football is predictably unpredictable and what on paper seemed like a formality for Rovers against a Westover Rangers side with nothing to play for ended up being anything but!
Early on there was little sign of the drama to come as Rovers although not dominating proceedings had the better of the early exchanges. They took the lead on twenty minutes when Dave Porter's speculative long range shot was miskicked by the Westover keeper when all he needed to do was pick it up resulting in the ball tamely nestling in the bottom of his net. Rovers failed to capitalise on this Easter gift shortly after as a superb four man move ended up with Paul Denton firing wide with the goal at his mercy.
As the half wore on Rovers started to look edgy as Westover put them under pressure and after half an hour they were level following a strike from the edge of the Rovers box which squeezed in at Neil Whitecross's near post. But not for the first time this season Rovers showed their resilience and on the stroke of half time regained the lead following a Chris Yoxall effort which also confirmed him as the club's top scorer for the season.
As the second half progressed Rovers came under more and more pressure but held firm until a dubious penalty decision was awarded against them after seventy minutes. Neil Whitecross couldn't replicate his heroics from this fixture earlier in the season as the spot kick was firmly despatched inside his left hand post.
The tie and Rovers' chances of promotion were now on a knife edge and Rovers could hardly get out of their own half as the thought of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory became a real possibility. Then, sure as eggs are eggs, Westover took the lead as their number nine raced clear from a despairing lunge from Dave Cotton to slot home with just six minutes left on the clock. Rovers now went for broke but were leaving themselves exposed at the back and another despairing lunge this time just about prevented a fourth Westover goal.
Time was fast running out for Rovers and as the game moved into the final minute some fine work by Dave Porter earned Rovers a throw deep inside the Westover half. Porter launched the ball into the box, Chris Yoxall flicked it on and Paul Denton glanced the ball across the keeper with his head and into the corner of the Westover net to send the Rovers players and supporters delirious. Amazingly, this turned out to be the last action of the game as their was barely time for the restart before the final whistle blew to confim Rovers promotion in their first season since reforming.
