Promotion, playoffs and relegations has been confirmed on the final day of 23/24 Championship season and what a dramatic one it was indeed.
Coming into the afternoon, we knew Ipswich Town were in pole place to seal second and a spot in the Premier League for the first time in over 20 years.
They need just a point in their game against Huddersfield to complete a remarkable campaign for Kieran McKenna’s side.
However, Leeds will be waiting in the wings should the Tractor Boys slip up.
Daniel Farke’s men would be promoted if Ipswich lose and they beat Southampton at home.
And the Ipswich boss isn’t expecting things to be straightforward on the final day.
Leeds, Southampton and Ipswich are guaranteed a place in the play-offs no matter what happens on the final day, but there are still two places up for grabs with three teams in contention.
Realistically, Norwich are likely to finish fifth and need just a point away at Birmingham.
West Brom also most likely just need a draw, given they have an 11 goal advantage on Hull.
But should the Baggies lose to Preston, a win for Hull over Plymouth would see them take West Brom’s place.
Hull can also pass Norwich with a win and a seven-goal swing.
Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn Rovers need just a point to confirm their place in England’s second tier.
However, Wednesday could be relegated if they lose to Sunderland and Birmingham beat Norwich due to their inferior goal difference.
Blackburn have the same goal difference, but that would change by at least one should they lose to Leicester.
This means they would go down if Plymouth and Wednesday win and they lose.
For Plymouth, a victory over Hull keeps them up no matter what – a draw would also be enough, depending on other results.
Birmingham have to win and hope that Plymouth do not beat Hull or one of Wednesday and Blackburn lose.
A draw could also be enough if Plymouth lose by five goals.
So how did it play out?
GOAL: Leeds 0-1 Southampton
Adam Armstrong (18 mins)
Southampton have landed a huge blow on Leeds United.
Simon Grayson (Ex-Leeds manager on BBC Radio Leeds): “Somebody with the quality of Adam Armstrong wasn’t going to miss the target. The Leeds players are rallying and I think the supporters will too. After a real promising start, it’s a big kick in the teeth.”
GOAL: Leeds 1-1 Southampton
Joel Piroe (21 mins)
Leeds United hit back instantly.
Simon Grayson (Ex-Leeds manager on BBC Radio Leeds): “Leeds responded really well after going behind and Southampton didn’t deal with it very well. This place has erupted and all of a sudden it’s game back on.”
GOAL: Stoke 1-0 Bristol City
Luke Cundle (25 mins)
GOAL – Rotherham 1-0 Cardiff
Jordan Hugill (25 mins)
DISALLOWED GOAL
Sunderland 0-0 Sheff Wed
Sunderland had the ball in the net through Luke O’Nien but the offside flag went up.
GOAL: Ipswich 1-0 Huddersfield
Wes Burns (27 mins)
Burns drilled the ball low past Chris Maxwell and into the back of the net
GOAL: Sunderland 0-1 Sheff Wed
Liam Palmer (28 mins)
GOAL: Coventry 0-1 QPR
Ilias Chair (33 mins)
GOAL: Leeds 1-2 Southampton
Will Smallbone (35 mins)
HITS THE WOODWORK
Sunderland 0-1 Sheff Wed
Jack Clarke sent his shot against the frame of the goal with James Beadle beaten.
GOAL: Sunderland 0-2 Sheff Wed
Josh Windass (36 mins)
GOAL: Plymouth 1-0 Hull City
Joe Edwards (40 mins)
GOAL – Rotherham 1-1 Cardiff City
Nat Phillips (38 mins)
GOAL: Coventry 0-2 QPR
Morgan Fox (40 mins)
HITS THE WOODWORK
Leeds 1-2 Southampton
Taylor Harwood-Bellis nearly made a third for Southampton.
GOAL: Stoke 2-0 Bristol City
Tyrese Campbell (45 mins)
GOAL – Rotherham 2-1 Cardiff City
Tom Eaves (45 mins)
GOAL: Stoke 3-0 Bristol City
Million Manhoef (45+2 mins)
GOAL: West Brom 1-0 Preston
Alex Mowatt pen (45+2 mins)
West Brom only need to draw to confirm their place in the playoff places
HALF TIME SCORES:
(As it stands at half-time)
Promoted to Premier League: Leicester & Ipswich
Play-offs: Leeds, Southampton, West Brom, Norwich
Relegated: Birmingham, Huddersfield, Rotherham
HT Birmingham City 0-0 Norwich City
HT Coventry City 0-2 Queens Park Rangers
HT Ipswich Town 1-0 Huddersfield Town
HT Leeds United 1-2 Southampton
HT Leicester City 0-0 Blackburn Rovers
HT Middlesbrough 1-0 Watford
HT Plymouth Argyle 1-0 Hull City
HT Rotherham United 2-1 Cardiff City
HT Stoke City 3-0 Bristol City
HT Sunderland 0-2 Sheffield Wednesday
HT Swansea City 0-0 Millwall
HT West Bromwich Albion 1-0 Preston North End
GOAL – Rotherham 2-2 Cardiff
Ollie Tanner (47 minutes)
GOAL: Ipswich 2-0 Huddersfield
Omari Hutchinson (48 mins)
GOAL: Stoke 4-0 Bristol City
Million Manhoef (49 mins)
GOAL: Birmingham 1-0 Norwich
Seung-ho Paik (55 mins)
If Blackburn concede against champions Leicester, they will go down as it stands and Birmingham survive.
GOAL – Rotherham 3-2 Cardiff City
Tom Eaves (57 mins)
DISALLOWED GOAL
Leeds 1-2 Southampton
Adam Armstrong had a third goal for Southampton flagged for offside.
GOAL: West Brom 2-0 Preston
Kyle Bartley (61 mins)
MISSED PENALTY
Swansea 0-0 Millwall
Swansea given a penalty with Ronald brought down by Jake Cooper’s sliding tackle. Matt Grimes has his effort saved by Millwall keeper Matija Sarkic.
GOAL – Rotherham 4-2 Cardiff City
Sam Nombe (63 mins)
GOAL: Leicester 0-1 Blackburn
Sammie Szmodics (68 mins)
Birmingham need Hull to level at Plymouth – a goal that would send the Pilgrims down as it stands.
GOAL – Rotherham 5-2 Cardiff City
Jordan Hugill (69 mins)
GOAL: West Brom 3-0 Preston
Darnell Furlong (68 mins)
GOAL: Middlesbrough 1-1 Watford
Wes Hoedt (73 mins)
GOAL: Middlesbrough 2-1 Watford
Alex Bangura (78 mins)
HITS THE WOODWORK
Leicester 0-1 Blackburn
Harry Winks sees his effort come back off the crossbar.
GOAL: Middlesbrough 3-1 Watford
Isaiah Jones (84 mins)
GOAL: Coventry 1-2 QPR
Jamie Allen (83 mins)
GOAL: Leicester 0-2 Blackburn
Sammie Szmodics (90+4 mins)
FULL TIME SCORES:
Ipswich PROMOTED to Premier League
Leeds into play-offs
West Brom, Norwich into play-offs | Hull miss out
Birmingham RELEGATED with Huddersfield and Rotherham
Blackburn, Sheff Wed, Plymouth all survive
Sunday May 26 (kick-off tbc)
FT Birmingham City (0) 1-0 (0) Norwich City
FT Coventry City (0) 1-2 (2) Queens Park Rangers
FT Ipswich Town (1) 2-0 (0) Huddersfield Town
FT Leeds United (1) 1-2 (2) Southampton
FT Leicester City (0) 0-2 (0) Blackburn Rovers
FT Middlesbrough (1) 3-1 (0) Watford
FT Plymouth Argyle (1) 1-0 (0) Hull City
FT Rotherham United (2) 5-2 (1) Cardiff City
FT Stoke City (3) 4-0 (0) Bristol City
FT Sunderland (0) 0-2 (2) Sheffield Wednesday
FT Swansea City (0) 0-1 (0) Millwall
FT West Bromwich Albion (1) 3-0 (0) Preston North End
Playoff schedule
Semi-final first legs
Norwich vs Leeds (12pm) – Sunday May 12
West Brom vs Southampton (2.15pm) – Sunday May 12
Semi-final second legs
Leeds vs Norwich (8pm) – Thursday May 16
Southampton vs West Brom (8pm) – Friday May 17
Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna told Sky Sports:
“I feel great. A lot of relief, I have to say. it’s a wonderful day.
“We have promised ourselves a few days off but there’s a lot of work to do. We are way ahead of schedule. There is a lot of work to do at the club in pretty much every department – that’s not for thinking about today, today is for enjoying it. Maybe after Monday night we’ll sit down and plan.
“I have big associations with Tottenham and Man United in particular and they will be games to look forward to in particular on a personal level, but it’s the best league in the world, best clubs, best managers and players – it’s going to be great – we’ll enjoy every game.
“It’s a great challenge. Competing against the best in the world. We know it will be a monumental jump.
“It’s been said we’ve had our late winners this season but over the course of it we’ve performed at such a high level consistently that I think the players deserve everything they are getting.”
Southampton boss Russell Martin: “I really enjoyed much of the performance. We showed both sides of the game today. We asked for big energy and more aggression and we got that. I’m proud of the players.
“I changed the shape because I thought it suited the game today and it might be something we use going forward in the play-offs. It wasn’t negative to start with so many defensive players on the pitch. They were brave.
“It doesn’t mean anything that we’re unbeaten against all the other teams in the play-offs. It’s a totally different competition. We need to be ready. They trained like beasts this week and they’ll need to do that in the next two weeks too.
“Ipswich deserve it, they have been great.
“Everyone said they will fall away but they have not and that’s testament to Kieran (McKenna) and the team.
“It shows they job they have done that Leeds have won 90 points and not gone up today. We went 25 games unbeaten at one point and have finished fourth.”
Huddersfield boss Andre Breitenreiter told BBC Radio Leeds: “We wanted to try and give our best in the game. We played good against the ball in the first half, we showed a compact unit.
“Second half we wanted to be more brave, but you could see they were better in every possession, they were quick and confident.
“I think the mentality and the willingness were ok, and this is what we can expect from our team (in future).
“The owner came over to England so we will have some conversations. I want to reflect on the last few weeks and then we will decide if I am the right person for the project.”
Hull boss Liam Rosenior told BBC Sport:
“It’s a really disappointing day, I think it says about the league that every single team that was battling against relegation won.
“It’s a tough league and Plymouth gave so much energy into their performance, they ran, they chased they tackled.
“Maybe we played the occasion a bit rather than the game
“There’s tears in the dressing room from some of the lads, but I couldn’t be prouder.
“From where we’ve come from last season and what we’ve built there’s a bedrock and a real foundation for us to go on and achieve in the long term for this football club.”
West Brom boss Carlos Corberan told BBC Radio WM: “It’s been tough weeks because we didn’t achieve the results that we wanted but in football and in life, you need to be able to manage different situations.
“Things don’t happen like how you would like them to happen. The ones that achieve things are the ones that keep believing, keep working hard, keep coming with the situation until they achieve what they want to achieve.
“The result has been the consequence of a positive team performance today.”
Norwich’s David Wagner spoke to BBC Radio Norfolk: “I know what we are capable of in the play-offs. This is my second time in the play-offs in England.
“But this result doesn’t count today. What happened over the 46 games counts for nothing now.
“The most important thing is that everyone is healthy and people got some minutes in.
“We will rest for a couple of days before we get back into our routine and then it will be all about belief, being brave and showing commitment.”
Leeds boss Daniel Farke told BBC Radio Leeds: “Today we chose a risky approach because there was no option but to win. It was a bit of a wild game. We wanted an early goal to put pressure on Portman Road.
“The problem was more or less the opponent was in the lead for the majority of the game. I would have liked to have equalised or turned it around for the confidence but I was pleased with the performance in the second half.
“This season is over and you have to say congratulations to Leicester and Ipswich. They were the two best teams in terms of consistency and we were the third best.”
On facing his former side Norwich in the play-off semi-final.
“Now we go into a new competition. Hopefully we have three finals now.
“It’s a bit special. It was quite emotional to return there as an opposition manager but the second game was business as usual.
“I will always be grateful for my time there but my only focus is here because this team and the supporters deserve promotion.”
Plymouth Argyle first team coach Kevin Nancekivell: “It was stressful, but that was always going to be the case.
“I thought the lads were brilliant today, I thought that was one of our best performances for a few months, especially under the type of pressure that they were under.
“To go and produce a performance like that against a team like Hull who are pushing for the play-offs we’re really proud, I thought we were terrific, so I’m delighted.
“We wanted to take the game to them, which I think we certainly did.
“We had to defend at times, which against good teams in the Championship you’re going to have to do.
“I’m just delighted and relieved to get it all over.”
Birmingham interim manager Gary Rowett told BBC Radio WM: “The atmosphere was absolutely incredible, as good as I’ve ever heard anywhere before a game.
“I’m pleased with the performance and pleased with the result. But, when it’s not in your own hands that’s what you leave yourselves open to.
“The fans have played a huge part in trying to get us over the line and we should have been well ahead before we did score.
“And then you’re waiting for the results. At one point the crowd got wind of something and we thought we might back in business but it wasn’t to be.
“ When the dust settles, I think there’s exciting times ahead, if we can get it right on the pitch.”
Blackburn manager John Eustace told BBC Radio Lancashire: “They eventually got us through, and the support from the fans got us through as well,” he said.
“We’ve been doubted on a number of occasions but have also bounced back. Five defeats in 18 games is a fantastic return, from when we came in.
“It’s important that people realise we had to change the character, the culture, and the environment, and we’ve had a lot of players playing through injury.
“[Szmodics] has been amazing. Every team needs a goalscorer and we’ve got one. I’ve talked about his work rate and endeavour and when you work as hard as he does for the team, you get your results.”
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