Cheltenham Town finished the regular
2001–02 season in fourth place in the
Football League Third Division, the fourth tier of the
English football league system, two positions ahead of
Rushden & Diamonds. Both therefore missed out on the three automatic places for
promotion to the
Second Division and instead took part in the
play-offs to determine the fourth promoted team. Cheltenham Town finished one point behind
Mansfield Town (who were promoted in third place), nineteen behind
Luton Town (who were promoted in second place), and twenty-four behind league winners
Plymouth Argyle. Rushden & Diamonds ended the season five points behind Cheltenham Town. Eleven minutes after half-time,
Paul Simpson scored from distance with a curling shot before Rushden saw a potential equalising goal from
Onandi Lowe disallowed for a foul.
Garry Butterworth then scored for Rochdale in the 72nd minute from the edge of the
penalty area, and the match ended 2–2. The second leg of the semi-final took place three days later at
Spotland in Rochdale. After a goalless first half,
Mark Peters scored an
own goal when his backpass rolled into the Rushden goal to give Rochdale the lead. Immediately from the restart, Butterworth's pass found Lowe who turned and scored to make it 1–1. In the 75th minute, Hall took advantage of a mistake by Griffiths to go round
Billy Turley, the Rochdale goalkeeper, and score the deciding goal. Rushden won the match 2–1 and progressed to the play-off final with a 4–3
aggregate victory. Cheltenham's opposition for their play-off semi-final were
Hartlepool United; the first leg was held at
Victoria Park in Hartlepool on 27 April 2002. The visiting side started strongly and eventually took the lead in
injury time in the first half when
Eifion Williams scored with a header from close range. With one minute remaining in the game,
Martyn Lee won the ball from
Chris Westwood and played it to
Neil Grayson who levelled the score, ending the match 1–1. The second leg took place three days later at
Whaddon Road in Cheltenham.
Paul Arnison put Hartlepool ahead on 17 minutes with a low strike but Williams equalised ten minutes later with a shot from . The second half was goalless which meant the game ended 1–1 and 2–2 on aggregate, resulting in
extra time. Grayson came close to scoring with a header but no goals were scored in the additional period so a
penalty shootout was required to decide the match. Both sides scored four of their first five spot kicks. Alsop then scored to put Cheltenham ahead in
sudden death before
Ritchie Humphreys' strike hit the crossbar; despite appearing to have crossed the goalline, the shot was adjudged to have missed. Cheltenham progressed to the play-off final with a 5–4 victory on penalties. ==Match==