Heading into the final day of the English League Championship, several teams had so much to play for. Hull City and Watford were fighting it out for the second automatic promotion spot into the Premier League; Crystal Palace, Bolton Wanderers, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City were looking to seal a Playoff spot; and several teams were still in danger of falling into the last two relegation spots where they would follow Bristol City into League One.
Hull ended up drawing 2-2 with champions Cardiff City in a dramatic finale! They missed a penalty in the 4th minute of second-half injury time which would have sealed the win and instead conceded a penalty at the other end which Cardiff dispatched for the equaliser. Watford could not capitalise however, succumbing to a 2-1 defeat at home to Leeds United who really had nothing to play for. Gianfranco Zola's men's jobs were not made any easier when they had to play the last half hour with 10 men thanks to Troy Deeney's sending off. Zola will now have to guide Watford through the playoffs if he is to see himself managing in the Premier League next season.
Bolton looked to have stayed in 6th place on the table, the last playoff spot available, with a 2-2 draw at home to Blackpool who, like Leeds, did not have much to play for. However, football can be such a fickle game and with both Forest and Leicester nipping at Bolton's heels, it was Leicester who put the dagger into the hearts of Bolton fans when they scored an injury time winner for a 3-2 away win over Forest.
So the playoffs will see Watford versus Leicester and Brighton & Hove Albion vs Crystal Palace over two legs with the winners going on to face each other at the final in Wembley Stadium to be the third promoted team into the Premier League.
The final will be a battle of two Chelsea old boys in Zola and Gus Poyet, with Poyet's Seagulls hitting the jackpot that comes with playing in the Premier League.
At the other end of the table though, Wolverhampton Wanderers were always going to struggle to escape relegation as they needed two other results to go their way but that did not matter as Wolves suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Seagulls to condemn to life in League One next season. After three seasons in the Premier League, Wolves have now embarrassingly suffered their second straight relegation after they finished dead-last in the Premier League last season. Can they stop this downward free-fall?
Barnsley looked like they were going to be the third team relegated when they could not hang onto their 2-1 lead away to Huddersfield Town and conceded an equaliser in the 81st minute. At the time, Peterborough United were leading 2-1 at Selhurst Park and Millwall was clinging onto a 0-0 draw at Pride Park Stadium. Barnsley really needed to find a winner!
Although Derby ended up scoring with 5 minutes left to defeat Millwall 1-0, it was the events at Selhurst Park that changed everything! In the last 7 minutes, Palace managed to score two goals for a 3-2 win that meant Peterborough dropped into that final relegation spot! Needless to say, Socceroo Mile Jedinak won't be welcome in Peterborough anytime soon as it was he who popped up with the winner for Palace!
So I guess the saying is true, "Don't count your chickens until your eggs are hatched"! Football is a funny old game and you never know what is going to happen whilst there is still time on the clock!
