I won greatest ever play-off final and now run estate agents but people still talk to me about epic

It’s 25 years to the day since Charlton beat Sunderland at Wembley to reach the Premier League and it’s still the greatest play-off final of all time.

The epic back-and-forth clash in May 1998 has gone down in history and nothing since has quite replicated the drama.

The teams shared eight goals in 120 minutes before spot-kicks were needed to separate them, with Charlton striker Clive Mendonca scoring one of the best hat-tricks the national stadium had ever seen.

Even the shootout was sublime. Thirteen players scored before Micky Gray stepped up and had his saved by goalkeeper Sasa Ilic. 

The most relieved person at Wembley at that moment was probably the next man up – Addicks defender Eddie Youds.

“I was set to take the next penalty after Michael Gray missed,” Youds told talkSPORT.

“It was a horrible feeling. In my head I was picking a spot and sticking to it. Richard Rufus took his boots off and said he wasn’t taking one. Steve Jones was at the other end of the pitch, hid behind the goal and said ‘I aint taking one’. So I had to take the next one. 

“It was a horrible, horrible feeling. On the human side, you felt for Micky Gray as he missed, but it was brilliant for us. Sasa got the plaudits, but me Nan could have saved the penalty. It turned out to be a brilliant day.”

The Wembley experience was nothing new for Youds as he’d captained Bradford to their Division Two play-off final victory over Notts County in 1996.

The centre-back, who started his career at Everton in the late 1980s and also went on to play for Ipswich and Hudderfield, was signed by Charlton in 1998 during that play-off winning season and his arrival coincided with a club record defensive run.

Charlton had not conceded a goal in 10 games before the trip to Wembley, beating Ipswich 1-0 in both semi-finals.

Conceding four goals in the final was not what either defence had planned.

“We knew straight away it was a classic with it going to 7-6 on penalties. 4-4 after extra time then you knew,” Youds continued.

“You just knew it was going to be seen as one of the all-time, epic play-off finals. In that regard it was great to be involved with.

“But as a defender, my job was to keep the ball out of the net, so it wasn’t the greatest of watches.

“I woke up the other morning at 5am and turned the tele on and that match was on. There was some parts of it that were good, though”

Youds hung his boots up in 2005 and went into the property business. Now he now runs an estate agents in Beckenham, south London.

The former Premier League defender does still get people wanting to talk about that game as he goes about his job, though.

“It doesn’t happen as much as it’s been 25 years, but it certainly happens,” he said. “Sometimes I go to someone’s house and they’ll recognise my name more than my face.”