It was all level in second/third place, it was going to come down to that vital game in hand.

After the last gasp win at Brighton, Saints supporter barely had time to digest their Easter Eggs before turning their attentions to the hartlepool home match on the Easter Monday, the psition was Saints played 42 points 80 and Huddersfield Played 43 points 80. Both sides had winnable home games Saints V Hartlepool and Huddersfield V Dagenham, of the two Saints had the harder task given that Hartlepool had held them to a 0-0 draw only a couple of months earlier.

The first half at SMS was tense and 0-0 at the break, however it wouldnt stay that way for long and the game turned, Lambert was brought down in the box and it was a penalty and the visitors down to 10 men, Lambert dispatched the spot kick and a huge sigh of relief went up around the ground, however then Saints went to pieces for ten minutes as nerves seemed to get the better of them and the visitors had a one on one in which Davis saved brilliantly plus a free header that flashed past the near post and it was a relief when Fonte rose and headed his second goal of the festive period to make sure there would be no slip ups.

Sadly no slip ups at the Galpharm either, Dagenham being seen off 2-1.

The final Saturday of April saw both clubs on the road, Saints to Brentford and Hudderfield to Brighton, the feeling was the Seagulls wuld do Saints no favours so a win at Brentford was needed.

The large Saints army that descended on Griffin Park knew that technically they could virtually guarantee promotion on goal difference, in London Saints took control early Lallana scoring just after the quarter of the hour mark and then David Connolly poaching a goal on the half hour, it was comfortable for Saints until Brentford suddenly got a penalty out of the blue, it could have swung the game but it hit the post and Saints breathed again.

Meanwhile all Saints ears in the ground were to Sussex where they knew that Town had lead Brighton twice but had been pinned back twice and it stood at 2-2, then as Oscar Gobern sealed Saints victory came the news that all Saints fans wanted, Brighton had scored a last minute winner, sadly though there had been a mistake and it was Huddersfield who had scored to stay level pegging with Saints.

What every Saints fan wanted to avoid was a last day nerve jangling ending, so thousands headed to Plymouth with two thousand odd in the away end and many more biting their tongues in the home seats knowing victory would send Saints up and Plymouth down.

Again it was a fairly uneventful first half, tense for both sides wit so much riding on it and tackles flying in as Argyle looked to knock Saints out of their stride, right on half time though and the breakthrough came, a deep Butterfield cross found the head of Lambert who stayed strong and headed hom.

The second half saw Saints start to show their class and knock the stuffing out of Argyle, within four minutes they had done just that, a minute earlier Jaidi slammed a header against the post the home side failed to clear and Ryan Dickson scored from the edge of the area, promotion was in sight.

The Saints end was in full swing whilst in the home areas Plymouth fans tried to find Saints fans who couldnt stifle a cheer, but the game was up for Argyle on 59 minutes, at this stage Saints were all over them and they looked dead on the ropes and a tired defender brought down Lambert who got up and scored from the spot, from then on it was all Saints, David Connolly seemed determined to score and almost did so on several occasions the best being a long range effort that cannoned off the bar.

But the final say went to the home side who hit a consolation on 90 minutes, Saints fans didnt care though they werent going to lose this one now and their cheers rang around the ground as the home fans headed for the exits.

The final whistle sparked mass celebrations including the players who ran to the home end, ironically like the last two promotions they had won, Saints had done it in the same fashion, virtually sealing it on goal difference with a game to go but not 100% mathematically sure, 99% but not quite the full ton.

So to the last game, Huddersfield needed to overturn a 17 goal deficit if they were to go up on goal difference, basically a 11-0 home win for them against Brentford aligned with a 6-0 home defeat for us would have sent them up by nature of goals scored, otherwise they needed a full 18 goals.

The home game against Walsall saw a sell out, those of us that had been throughout the season of course pondered the fact that 10,000 extra fans had turned up out of nowhere, one in the pub likened it to a marathon and someone hiding in the bushes 100 meteres from the finishing line waiting till the front runers came into sight and then jumping out and running the last bit with them to bask in the glory, it certainly felt a little bit like that.

The game went pretty much to plan Guly and Connolly hit two goals just before the 30 minute mark although Walsall clawed one back on the stroke of half time.

But it was one way traffic aparrt from that  and when Chamberlain hit a screamer on 68 minutes Walsall knew the game was up, leaving their supporters desperately listiening out for news of Daggenham, the news was good news though and with ten minutes to go it was clear that the Daggers werent going to be able to snatch a point that would have kept them up and sent the Saddlers down, so it was party time for both sets of fans.

The stats said it all on this game though they were almost symetrical 10 shots on and 10 off for Saints with 3 & 3 for Walsall, in fact very representative of Saints season that always seemed to see them create a lot of chances but sometiems struggle to score whilst letting very few shots in on target but somehow managing to concede at vital times, but today it all came together and Saints were back in the Championship, officially 100%                

Photo: Action Images

Wints76 added 16:34 - Jun 23 Cheers for all of those end of season highlights Nick. Nice reminder of a great season, and helps the feelgood factor ahead of next. Still gutted I missed Brighton away though Hopefully the club will release a DVD of it all soon using their excellent coverage thoguh Saints Player (though this may suggest that they won't so more people subscribe!)
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