Jubilation and despair. Two words to sum up the contrasting emotions experienced by the four teams in the Championship play-offs on Saturday.
The second legs provided plenty of action and summed up the beauty of the play-offs.
Brentford 3-1 Bournemouth (3-2 on aggregate)
The first game that would decide the first team at Wembley next Saturday would be decided in the capital between Brentford and Bournemouth.
The game was only five minutes old where Brentford got off to the worst possible start.
Losing possession from a corner, a defensive disaster class from The Bees saw Arnaut Danjuma break free and find himself through on goal after running from his own half to slot past David Raya.
Brentford had a mountain to climb and knew they had to react fast.
On 16 minutes they were gifted a chance to level the game on the day after Lloyd Kelly handled Emiliano Marcondes’ cross.
Top scorer Ivan Toney made no mistake from the spot and reduced the aggregate deficit to just one.
The moment that would ultimately change the game came on 28 minutes as former Bee Chris Mepham wrestled Bryan Mbeumo to ground after he was clean through on goal.
From then on, the game totally changed – Bournemouth spent the majority of the time in their own half and wasting time, whilst Brentford played a smart game with the majority of the ball.
Nevertheless, the visitors managed to hold off until half time with a slender one goal aggregate advantage.
Just five minutes into the second half, the tie was level after a superb half volley from the edge of the box flew past Asmir Begovic.
Just when it looked as if the game would be heading into extra time, up stepped Marcus Forss to poke in Marcondes’ low cross to complete an astonishing turnaround and book Brentford’s spot at Wembley for the second season running.
Swansea 1-1 Barnsley (2-1 on aggregate)
Brentford’s opponents would be decided in the 6:30PM game in South Wales, with The Swans holding a slender 1-0 advantage from the first leg.
Barnsley asked questions of Swansea without creating many chances, but it would be Swansea who struck first.
Matt Grimes’ scintillating effort from the edge of the box flew past Brad Collins, who had no chance.
Swansea had doubled their advantage, and it stayed that way at the break, with Barnsley facing an uphill battle if they were to be walking down Wembley Way.
Barnsley started the second half strong, looking dangerous on the break and they eventually got their reward on 71 minutes.
Jordan Williams charged down the right and cut the ball back for Cauley Woodrow to smartly finish from the edge of the box, setting up a nervy finale for the Swans.
Despite Barnsley asking all the questions from that point onwards, Swansea dug in to book their place at Wembley next Saturday and face off with Brentford for a place in the Premier League.
Wembley Stadium awaits next Saturday, Brentford hoping to make it 10th time lucky in the play-offs and put the demons of last season’s final defeat behind them.
Swansea will be looking for revenge on Brentford, who beat them in last season’s semi final and hope for a repeat of the last time they were in this final, which saw them beat Reading 4-2 in 2011.
By Josh Mann
