After a long and tiresome year of football, full of joy and despair in equal measure, the English Football League ended with a flourish as the Championship, League One and League Two playoff finals concluded the 2013/14 season. Six sets of fans basking in a day out at Wembley, three jumping for joy, three dreaming of what might have been.
For those who say that it doesn't matter which league a team plays in, they clearly have never experienced the euphoria of promotion or the utter disappointment of defeat. The playoff finals represent one game that will define two sides seasons. On Saturday afternoon Wembley Weekend kicked off with the "£100million Game", the right to play in the Premier League. Queens Park Rangers and Derby County already had a win apiece in their two regular season matchups, QPR finished the league in 4th, 5 points behind Derby.
Derby came in off the back of two wins against Brighton in the semi-finals - 2-1 & 4-1 - while QPR needed extra time to see off Wigan in the semi's after a 0-0 draw up north, they won 2-1 at home with a 96th minute extra time winner from Charlie Austin.
Derby had the momentum and in the game they had the chances, but in the end even with 10 men for 30 minutes of the game, QPR bounced back at the first time of asking to the Premier League with a 90th minute winner from Bobby Zamora - the 2nd time he'd sent a side up with a winning goal in the Final.
The first half was cagey, QPR starting well but creating no chances, before Derby began to pile on the pressure. Hoilett looked the danger man for QPR down the right, while Ward looked alert for Derby, almost opening the scoring on 40 minutes as his deep free kick was tipped wide by Green.
Early in the 2nd half on the break QPR should have taken the lead when the ball was cut back to Austin who's effort was sliced wide.
3 minutes later the Londoners were a man light as Russell was through on goal and O'Neil lunged in from behind. The referee took his time over the huge decision, consulting his linesman before brandishing a straight red card to the central midfielder.
The odds were then against the Hoops but it was 'park the bus' time as Derby could not find a clean way through. Chances did present themselves, but only Martin and Dawkins forced notable saves out of Green.
Then as the game was just entering injury time, Hoilett did magnificently to steal the ball on the by-line, skip through two Derby players before pulling it back for the perfectly placed Zamora to curl home in front of the ecstatic Rangers faithful.
Derby pushed everyone forward, even their keeper as a late corner came to nothing. In the end there was no way through for the East Midlands club after throwing everything they could.
QPR return to the Premier League, but will be wary of spending in the right areas and on the right players this time around. With Harry Redknapp in charge they'll be confident of building around this solid team. Derby on the other hand, finished the season exceptionally and can look to continue that momentum. But they must be aware of the backlash Watford have encountered this season after missing out on the final day last year at Wembley.
After the air had settled it was the turn of Leyton Orient and Rotherham United. Another 50/50 matchup between the 3rd and 4th placed teams.
Leyton Orients blistering start to the season had petered out, but they regained their swagger with a 3-2 aggregate win over Peterborough United. Rotherham had picked up momentum as the season went along, finishing level on points with Leyton and were more than confident having dismissed Preston 4-2 on aggregate.
And true to their respective seasons this was a game of two halves, Leyton dominating the first half to take a 2-0 lead, before Rotherham came roaring back, levelling it up at 2-2 by full time. Extra time could not bring a conclusive end to proceedings, so a penalty shootout was required, and it was Rotherham who won in the most nerve-racking of fashions 4-3.
While the game was fast and furious it lacked chances for either side, until the 34th minute when Orient took the lead in fine fashion. A cross was only headed clear as far as Odubajo on the edge of the box and the winger lashed the ball over the keeper into the roof of the net.
That spectacular strike was followed 4 minutes later when Odubajo turned provider as he fed the ball across the six yard box for Cox to turn into the net. With renewed energy from the half time interval, Rotherham came out with purpose in the 2nd half. Pringle hit the top of the crossbar with a dipping free kick before Revell scrambled the ball home to half the deficit. Jones in goal for Leyton could only get an unconvincing hand to a whipped in set-piece which conveniently dropped to the former Orient striker who slid the ball home.
Within 5 minutes Rotherham were level with an outrageous goal from Revell, as he took the ball from Agard before striking the ball from 35 yards out over Jones and into the bottom corner of the net.
Rotherham were the better team as the game headed to extra time, the Orient fans stunned that there commanding lead had vanished so rapidly.
Extra time saw both teams have chances to end the torture for their fans, as at one end Cuthbert was saved by his keeper from an embarrassing own goal as Jones somehow was able to tip the defenders header over.
At the same end in the 2nd half of extra time several attempts in the Rotherham box were blocked as Colin was sparred making a save with time running out.
Agard and James both kept their cool in the opening penalties before Frecklington was denied by Jones. Lundstrum and Clarke took full advantage for Orient, while Pringle also kept his composure to keep Rotherham in the shootout. Tavernier put the pressure on Baudry as he tied it up at 3-3 with Orient having took one penalty less. That pressure applied was crucial as Baudry was denied by Colin. Smallwood then made no mistake with Rotherham's 5th penalty, leaving Dagnall in a must score situation. Dagnall stepped up confidently but his penalty was at a good height for Colin who pushed the penalty away, giving Rotherham a 4-3 win in the shootout, and sending them up a division for the 2nd straight year.
After two promotions on the trot it will be a tough task in a high class Championship for Rotherham, while Leyton Orient will be cursing there luck, knowing full well any other season would have likely seen them promoted automatically with 86 points.
Then on Bank Holiday Monday the final game of the season as Fleetwood Town took on Burton Albion. Burton were beaten semi-finalists in last years playoffs but came through Southend 3-2 on aggregate to face a Fleetwood side that squeaked past the impressive York 1-0 on aggregate.
For Burton it would turn out to be another tough ending to their season, this time slipping up at the final hurdle as they lost 1-0, a mistake by keeper Dean Lyness being the crucial moment.
Fleetwood came out the blocks on fire as Lyness kept his side in the game, firstly denying the ever present Ball, who's 5th minute effort was tipped over before Lyness was called into action again from the resulting corner.Ball had several more opportunities in the 1st half, but couldn't capitalise to give his side the lead.
The momentum didn't shift after the break, but it would take a moment of fortune to find the winning goal. Sarcevic's long range free-kick was misjudged by the Burton keeper as it flew over Lyness and into the back of the net. Lyness lay on the floor, reliving the moment 100 times in those couple of minutes before the restart.
The game then ended with a flourish as Burton were trying everything to send the game into another 30 minutes of football. Fleetwood favourite Nathan Pond put his body on the line several times in a dramatic climax to the season. For all their efforts Burton could not muster up a golden opportunity with so many bodies in the way of the Fleetwood goal.
The Promotion party has become a familiar site for Fleetwood fans as they celebrated their 6th promotion in 10 years as their incredible story continues. As for Burton, their fans can only hope for 3rd time lucky.
So the season is officially over, and the teams for the 2014/15 season are set. Every fan, every chairman, every player will have their realistic targets for next season, but in every person involved in the Beautiful Game, they will have that target of glory that they will relive over and over until the first ball is kicked in August. But before any of that their is a certain event only two weeks away that has us all dreaming. And I'll be bringing up plenty of coverage from the 2014 FIFA World Cup, with live commentary, previews, reviews and analysis right the way through to the final.
Just visit my twitter page @boxingsaddler for all the links and subscribe to 'boxingpeter' on YouTube to check it out.
