Sheffield United 4 - 3 Nottingham Forest
Those not in favour of the play-offs should close the page now to avoid the details of an extraordinary contest here last night in which Sheffield United staged a stunning comeback to book a date with Wolves in the final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on May 26.
This was a night that will live long in the memory of both clubs and their managers. Nottingham Forest's Paul Hart will be haunted through the summer wondering how his team scored three goals away from home but still finished the losers, sacrificing a two-goal lead with half an hour left.
Neil Warnock, on the other hand, was left pinching himself at how his brave side snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to keep alive his hopes of leading the South Yorkshire club into the Premiership. The Blades looked down and out after David Johnson, with his 29th goal of the season, and Andy Reid scored either side of half-time to put Forest in a commanding position.
But Warnock's men, showing fitness levels that belied the fact this was their 60th game of the season, restored parity through Michael Brown at once and Steve Kabba shortly afterwards to take the tie into extra-time.
With Forest still kicking themselves, Paul Peschisolido came off the substitutes' bench to put United in front on 112 minutes but even that was not the end. Des Walker headed into his own goal only for Robert Page to do the same at the other end and set up five more minutes of almost unbearable tension.
The Blades have already reached both cup semi-finals this season but the prize of top-flight football has been Warnock's main goal. "We've not opened the champagne or anything like that but I'm delighted because we've showed what we're made of.
"They don't know when they're beaten. They just keep going and going but I thought we deserved to go through over the two legs. We gave the crowd something to shout about after pulling a goal back and the noise just took off."
"It must have been fantastic to watch and people will talk about this for years to come. I'll watch the video as many times as I can."
Hart was dignified in defeat and thanked his players for a season of unrelenting effort yet little reward. "I feel for the boys because we are a very close-knit bunch. We did well to get 2-0 up. We had a plan and stuck to it but you've got to give credit to United. It kicked them into gear."
Johnson put Forest ahead against the run of play after Dean Windass had squandered two chances to open the scoring himself. Reid provided Forest with what should have been a cushion with a clinical finish on 58 minutes to Mathieu Louis-Jean's deep cross.
When Brown responded two minutes later with a free-kick that deflected off Walker, the momentum was with United and Kabba twisted past Walker to volley an equaliser.
Peschisolido replaced Peter Ndlovu and seven minutes later had put the Blades ahead with a fine individual effort. Walker's unfortunate blunder on 117 minutes made it 4-2 on the night and, though Page turned Jon-Olav Hjelde's cross into his own goal, it was no consolation as the tears told.