When Strachan struck crucial promotion goal and TV man Helm uttered immortal words

Those 15 words may have been spoken nearly 22 years ago but for anyone inside Elland Road on April 28, 1990, they still resonate.

Helm was commentating on United’s final home game of the season against Leicester City, a fixture Leeds simply had to win.

As they had for the previous few months, Howard Wilkinson’s side led the way in the Second Division but a late season stumble in form meant Sheffield United and Newcastle United were closing in fast.

Anything less than a win over Leicester, therefore, could have meant Leeds having to travel to Bournemouth on the final day sitting outside the automatic promotion places and with their fate resting in the hands of others.

With the stakes so high, nerves abounded ahead of kick-off as a sell-out 32,597 crowd made their way through the turnstiles. It had been the same all week at Elland Road, a point Wilkinson acknowledged several years later when he said: “Everywhere you went – the office, the laundry, the boardroom – people just wanted to cross the line.”

Leicester had nothing to play for due to any hopes of gate-crashing the play-offs having disappeared weeks earlier. Nevertheless, a Foxes side containing a young Gary McAllister were not going to be easy opponents.

As Leeds hosted Leicester, their two rivals for promotion were also on home soil as the Blades took on relegation-threatened Bournemouth and West Ham United travelled to St James’ Park. Both were expected to win, leaving Leeds with no margin for error.

It was a challenge Leeds rose to and they went ahead on 13 minutes via a low drilled shot from Mel Sterland in front of a delirious Gelderd End.

Buoyed by taking the lead, United poured forward and, but for the heroics of Martin Hodge, would have been out of sight by half-time. Still, as the players left the field to a rapturous reception, Wilkinson had plenty to be pleased about even before news came through that Newcastle were trailing 1-0.

Sheffield United were winning but if the results stayed the same then Leeds would be up with a game to spare.

Those hopes started to crumble, however, early in the second half when McAllister thumped in an impressive equaliser. Suddenly, it was all to play for again.

A near-identical effort a few minutes later from a midfielder who Leeds would buy just a few weeks later then brought a vital save from Mervyn Day before Leeds reasserted their authority as the game entered the final quarter.

Imre Varadi stabbed a shot against the post from three yards after Strachan had created the opening to crank the noise levels up even further before the moment that would so brilliantly be described by Helm on YTV’s ‘Goals on Sunday’ programme the following day arrived with just six minutes remaining.

A throw-in from Sterland was the catalyst for a bout of head tennis in the Foxes area before Gary Speed laid the ball back to Strachan on the edge of the area.

Quick as a flash, the Scot swooped to dispatch a pinpoint shot beyond Hodge and into the corner of the net.

Elland Road erupted as Strachan, with Chapman, Speed and Chris Kamara in hot pursuit, set off at speed towards the celebrating fans in the South Stand.

It was the kind of moment on which promotions are won and lost, and everyone inside United’s home ground knew it – hence why Helm’s words struck such a chord when first aired the following day.

The remaining minutes were played out with no further score, meaning that when the final whistle blew a pitch invasion followed within seconds.

In the days long before mobile phones, never mind smart phones, few in the crowd knew what was happening elsewhere in terms of the promotion race but it did not matter as the main target of the afternoon had been achieved – United’s fate was still in their own hands.

Soon, though, word spread that Newcastle had, indeed, lost to West Ham and Leeds were promoted. Cue scenes of pure bedlam as thousands of supporters jumped for joy on the pitch. The problem, however, was that the news – which had been imparted to the masses by Vinnie Jones – was wrong and Newcastle had won, as had the Blades. The promotion race would then go down to the final day after all when a 1-0 win at Bournemouth would be enough to clinch the title for Wilkinson’s side.

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