FIVE years ago, Doncaster Rovers were a non-league club and Leeds United were playing in Europe.

Now Doncaster have won promotion to the game's second tier after a 50-year absence and Leeds will have to spend a second season at the third level of English football.

Leeds would have finished the season 11 points better off than Rovers and secured automatic promotion with champions Swansea City, but for the Football League's 15 point deduction.

Football League chairman Brian Mawhinney inevitably took major stick from the Leeds supporters when he came out to shake hands with the players before kick-off.

Mawhinney's refusal to budge on the issue of the 15-point penalty imposed at the start of the season for breaking insolvency rules had led to calls for his resignation from Leeds chairman Ken Bates.

Few if any of the Leeds players looked Mawhinney in the eye or even smiled although each extended the basic courtesy of a handshake.

Rovers chairman John Ryan threatened to take action against the League if they reversed their original decision – which hardly won favour with the Leeds fans. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall in that VIP area before the game.

While Saturday's Championship final generated a record 87,000 attendance for a play-off final, there were over 12,000 unsold seats at Wembley yesterday due to Rovers' inability to sell all of their 36,000 allocation of tickets.

Ryan had offered to personally deliver the spare tickets to Elland Road for the Leeds fans, but the Football League blocked his proposal on the basis of the need for crowd control.

Inevitably, there were still large pockets of Leeds fans in their opponents' sections of the stadium. Within minutes of the kick-off, around 3,000 had moved to the back of the stand where there was more room to congregate together.

A smaller pocket of around 250 supporters also gathered at the back of the lower tier. Stewards and police appeared comfortable with this rather odd situation as it was probably easier to avert trouble with everyone together.

This was Leeds United's 11th visit to Wembley, after appearing in four FA Cup finals, three League Cup finals, three Charity Shields, and the Mercantile Credit tournament which was staged to celebrate the League's Centenary in 1988.

Although Rovers won the Johnstone's Paint Trophy at the Millennium Stadium last season, this was their first trip to the home of English football.

The early exchanges looked bad for Leeds as Rovers picked up where they had left off against Southend and produced some flowing football. Leeds had goalkeeper Casper Ankergren to thank for keeping Rovers at bay.

Midfielder Richie Wellens, playing with a groin injury that requires surgery in the summer, was fouled by a collection of Leeds players.

Leeds fans increased the noise level as half-time approached and their support clearly galvanised their side. Thousands of scarves were briefly waved around in scenes reminiscent of those seen in Spanish stadiums.

The goal that settled the game arrived two minutes after the break, striker James Hayter stooping low to head home Brian Stock's corner.

When the final whistle blew, the Leeds players sank to the floor in agony. There were tears from their supporters who quickly headed for the exits.

That left Rovers to bask in the glory of an amazing achievement. There were tears of joy around the stadia now and that wide smile on the face of chairman John Ryan had never looked brighter.

Without doubt, Rovers have been the best footballing side in League One this season and they would have gone up automatically on the final day of the season had they won at Cheltenham.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the 15-point penalty, it stopped Leeds going up this season, but opened the door for Rovers.