Chris Wildgoose | Sports Journalist

“I think I lay on my back, looking up to the sky saying: ‘why us?’”

The true heartache of agonising play-off defeat summed up by Robert Taylor, who was unfortunate enough to be on the losing side on three separate occasions in his career.

During the 1994/95 campaign, Taylor struck up one of the most formidable strike partnerships in football league history with Nicky Forster. The deadly duo plundered 48 goals between them to help Brentford to a second place finish in Division Two, four points behind champions Birmingham City.

In an ordinary season, the Bees would have secured automatic promotion but, due to the streamlining of the Premier League from 24 to 20 teams, only two clubs were promoted from the third tier.

Brentford, managed by David Webb, failed to win any of their last three league games and were eventually beaten by Huddersfield Town at the semi-final stage on penalties. The Terriers went onto secure promotion to Division One at the expense of Bristol Rovers.

“It comes down to which team wants to win the most,” admitted Taylor. “There was no difference between the two sides, it was just meant to be for Huddersfield that night.

“I was more disappointed for the club and supporters than myself – you’re paid to do a job, and I did that to the best of my ability.”

Brentford suffered somewhat of a hangover the following campaign as Taylor and co. finished 15th, nine points above the drop zone and 15 points outside the play-offs. But Webb was able to rally his troops for another promotion push in the 1996/97 season as the Bees managed a fourth place finish to try their hand at the play-offs again.

Taylor scored in both legs as Brentford beat Bristol City 4-2 on aggregate to reach their first play-off final at the third attempt. Over 34,000 fans made the trip to Wembley as a young Crewe Alexandra side, led by legendary manager Dario Gradi, clinched victory courtesy of a solitary Shaun Smith goal in the first half.

“When you get to any play-off, you think it’s going to be your year,” continued Taylor. “When I scored in both games I felt we were a good enough team to be promoted.

“But in the final, we didn’t play well so we didn’t deserve to win.”

If the Bees had suffered a hangover after their previous play-off devastation, it was nothing compared to the slump that befell them during the 1997/98 season. Unable to recover from a disastrous start to the campaign, the Griffin Park outfit finished 21st and were relegated to the fourth tier of English football for the first time since 1978.

That would prove to be Taylor’s last season with Brentford as he left for pastures new, where he would link up with former Bees striker Carl Asaba and form another prolific partnership, this time under the guidance of Tony Pulis at Gillingham.

“It was sad for me after being at Brentford for nearly five years; to get relegated is gut wrenching,” said Taylor. “I went to Gillingham and it turned out to be a fantastic season for the club. The partnership with Carl continued from where we left off at Brentford.”

The Gills enjoyed a fine season under Pulis and finished fourth in Division Two to set up a play-off semi-final with Preston North End, who were one of the favourites for promotion under David Moyes.

Taylor scored the equalising goal in the first leg at Deepdale to put Gillingham on their way to a Division Two Play-Off Final date with fallen giants Manchester City. Joe Royle’s side had become the first ever winners of a European competition to slip into the third tier of their domestic league, following their relegation the previous campaign.

“It was a superb game for the fans and has gone down as one of the best play-off finals ever,” recalled Taylor. “76,000 fans inside Wembley was a great feeling.”

Late goals from Asaba and Taylor looked like they had fired Gillingham into the second tier of English football for the first time in the club’s history, but an incredible turnaround from City saw them take the game to extra time with strikes from Kevin Horlock and Paul Dickov in stoppage time.

“When I scored, I didn’t realise there was only three minutes of normal time remaining,” continued Taylor. “When City scored the late goals I knew it wasn’t going to be our day.”

City eventually clinched promotion through a penalty shoot-out win, with Guy Butters seeing the fourth penalty saved by Nicky Weaver to send the blue half of Manchester into raptures. The most unlikely of victories snatched from the jaws of defeat to complete one of the greatest play-off recoveries in history.

“I was due to take the fifth penalty,” admitted Taylor.

“You are so wrapped up in the game; it isn’t until it’s over that everything becomes a reality. When you’ve been so close to promotion, to have it snatched away from you in the 95th minute is gut wrenching. It was devastating as we deserved to win.

“The sun was shining on Manchester that week as I think United won the Champions League in the last minute too.”