Oli McBurnie's stoppage-time winner was enough to send Hull City to the Premier League as Sergej Jakirovic's side beat Middlesbrough 1-0 at Wembley in the Championship playoff final.
After a dramatic buildup dominated by the 'Spygate' controversy, the match itself was relative free of drama as the stifling heat evidently added to the players' fatigue after an already long season.
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Boro only found out on Tuesday evening that it would be them, rather than Southampton, who would be playing at Wembley for a spot in the Premier League.
The ruling meant that the playoff final was contested by the teams who finished fifth and sixth in the Championship table, after Tonda Eckert's side were expelled and goals from Mohamed Belloumi and Joe Gelhardt gave Hull a 2-0 aggregate win over Millwall in the other semifinal.
Middlesbrough manager Kim Hellberg kept his players training despite their 2-1 loss to Southampton in the hope that his team would be reinstated. Their preparations for the so-called 'richest game in sports' were far from ideal but they were not the only team for whom that was the case.
Hull, of course, only found out their opponents on Tuesday. Having finished seven points behind Middlesbrough and with a goal difference of four compared with Boro's 25, Sergej Jakirovic's side were the underdogs, but were able to take advantage of the few chances that came their way in a season in which that has been their calling card.
They join runaway Championship winners Coventry City and Kieran McKenna's Ipswich Town in the Premier League next season, and pocket a bounty which is likely to be well into nine figures.
