Huddersfield Town 0 Sheffield United 0: Jubilant Town are promoted as United suffer shoot-out misery

Such is the fine margin between success and failure when it comes to the play-offs as Huddersfield Town prevailed in dramatic fashion to end an 11-year absence from the Championship.

Steve Simonsen will, more than anyone, be wearily aware of that point this morning after marring an otherwise faultless display at Wembley by blazing over the penalty that decided the second all-Yorkshire play-off final.

After all 10 outfield players had performed with, first, wretchedness and then excellence from 12 yards to leave the shoot-out locked at 7-7 and the fingernails of the 52,100 crowd chewed down to the quick, it had fallen to the two goalkeepers to try to settle matters.

Town’s Alex Smithies was the first to step forward and hit the ball so sweetly that even Simonsen diving the correct way could not keep the 21st kick out.

Once again, the pressure was on United who in each of the previous six rounds had risen to the challenge and beaten Smithies to keep the shoot-out alive.

This time, however, the South Yorkshire club’s luck ran out as Simonsen blazed high and wide to decide a final that, while being far from a classic, had tested to the full the nerve and resolve of the White Rose hordes who had descended on the capital.

As Smithies was engulfed by not only all his team-mates but also chairman Dean Hoyle and what seemed like every member of the Town backroom staff, Simonsen fell to his knees.

Within a couple of seconds, he was laying face down and unwilling to risk even a quick glance at the celebrating Huddersfield throng.

Considering how well he had played in the preceding 120 minutes to keep Simon Grayson’s Terriers at bay, in that moment even the most biased of Wednesdayites watching back home in Sheffield must surely have struggled not to feel some sympathy for the Blades goalkeeper.

Certainly, manager Danny Wilson felt nothing but pride in the performance of not only Simonsen but all his players across a season that saw United become only the second team in history not to win promotion after claiming 90 points.

He said: “Someone has to be a hero and Smithies will get that hero status. But, certainly, the way Simmo played means he deserves a lot of credit for that performance.

“Who would have thought it would come down to two goalkeepers anyway? In terms of Simmo, I feel doubly disappointed for him because his performance meant he deserved to be on the winning side.

“You can’t look at any individual – and I mean both teams – and say they were possibly at fault for losing or winning the game. It was just a very, very tight game which unfortunately did not go our way.”

The shoot-out drama that led to Peter Clarke collecting the play-off winners’ trophy had been preceded by 120 minutes of what, to the neutrals, must have been largely unsatisfying fare.

To those, however, whose loyalties lay with the Blades or Terriers, the game was an engrossing affair with it soon becoming clear that just one mistake or moment of brilliance could settle what all the pundits had correctly forecast would be a tightly-contested final.

So evenly matched were the two teams, in fact, that the first half saw neither goalkeeper unduly troubled with Smithies flapping at three crosses being the sole talking point at the interval.

Matters, though, improved after the break as Huddersfield started to exert more and more control. First, Danny Ward repeated his trick of 2011 by striking the crossbar in a League One play-off final and, then, Peter Clarke was twice denied by Simonsen before Michael Doyle also came to United’s rescue with a goal-line clearance to keep out Tommy Miller’s shot.

As the sun continued to beat down on Wembley, the pace understandably dropped in extra-time but that did not stop Stephen Quinn, comfortably United’s most dangerous player, from testing Smithies, and at the other end Alan Lee’s fierce shot was beaten away by Simonsen and Nick Montgomery hacked away Peter Clarke’s header deep inside his own six-yard box.

That meant who joined champions Charlton Athletic and Sheffield Wednesday would be decided by a penalty shoot-out, a concept Sepp Blatter had called to be replaced in midweek following Chelsea’s Champions League triumph.

What the FIFA president would have made of the early penalties is anyone’s guess as only Neill Collins of the first six takers managed to find the net but, eventually, accuracy returned.

United, who lost the toss to decide not only at what end the spot-kicks would be taken but also in what order, then survived what equated to six sudden-death rounds before Simonsen blazed high and wide to ensure Town were promoted despite finishing nine points behind their opponents in the table.

Victorious Town manager Grayson said: “This is the best way to get promoted. Since I couldn’t affect the penalties, I didn’t watch them. I just sat with the chairman on the bench. How we recovered from missing the first three, I’ll never know. Sometimes, it is written in the stars.

“When we sat down (before the shoot-out) to decide who took the first five or six, we certainly didn’t expect it to get as far as the goalkeepers. I expected Alex to save a couple – not score one himself.”