Hull City 2 Cardiff City 2. Philip Buckingham at the KC Stadium.
HULL City have won a famous promotion back to the Premier League after the most dramatic day in the club's 109-year history.
The Tigers were forced to settle for a remarkable 2-2 draw with Championship title-winners Cardiff, but a 2-1 defeat for third-placed Watford at home to Leeds United confirmed City's position as runners-up.
The KC Stadium has seen nothing like it and perhaps never will again.
Despite falling behind to ex-Tiger Fraizer Campbell's cool finish five minutes after the break, City responded brilliantly with two goals inside five minutes from Nick Proschwitz and Paul McShane.
Proschwitz then had the chance to seal the win that would have guaranteed promotion, only to miss a stoppage time penalty, allowing Cardiff to break and snatch a point through Nicky Maynard's spot-kick.
That left City praying for a favour from Leeds and it duly arrived when Ross McCormack finally broke Watford's resolve with a 90th minute winner.
Wild celebrations greeted news of Watford's demise as the champagne corks finally popped to toast an afternoon like no other in the Tigers' colourful history. It was scarcely believable.
The final act of a breath-taking season sees Steve Bruce celebrating promotion back to the Premier League just 11 months after his appointment, and begins another top-flight adventure for the Tigers after three seasons in the Championship.
Never before have City landed a promotion on the final day of a season and this was an occasion that will never fade from memory.
Nothing could have prepared the KC Stadium for the biggest day in its 10-year history, as a lunchtime date began with City knowing a win would guarantee a safe ascent to the Premier League.
Three games without a win had condemned supporters to the most anxious finale imaginable and Bruce responded with a radical switch away from a 3-5-2 shape that had served him so well throughout his first season with City.
Two changes, with Liam Rosenior and Jay Simpson replacing Corry Evans and Matty Fryatt, only told half the story as Bruce opted for a 4-4-2 formation, with Robbie Brady pushed into attack, and George Boyd and Ahmed Elmohamady deployed as wingers.
The early signs were promising as a raucous atmosphere lifted City to find an intensity in their play so badly lacking in the 2-0 loss at Barnsley seven days earlier. A succession of early corners had the Tigers camped in the Cardiff half but without initial reward.
For all City's dominance, it was the visitors who came closest inside the opening quarter. Craig Conway's low drive fizzed through a mass of bodies inside the penalty area but mercifully past David Stockdale's upright.
City persisted, though, and the impressive Brady, revelling in his attacking role, twice came close around the half-hour mark.
Elmohamady's clever work in pick-pocketing Andrew Taylor brought a pull-back to the young Irishman, only for George Boyd to inadvertently block the dangerous shot. Brady enjoyed an even better chance soon after, following sharp passing play from Stephen Quinn and Boyd, but he smashed over from the edge of the box.
Back came Cardiff on the break with Jordan Mutch producing a carbon copy of Conway's earlier effort, but Brady was not to be outdone and responded with a fierce shot that forced David Marshall into the first real save of the game.
Although the first half was drawing to a close, there was still time for further drama - almost 200 miles away at Vicarage Road. Dominic Poleon's strike for Leeds United was celebrated like a goal for City, as Watford leaked the opening goal of an injury-hit game.
That ensured the half-time whistle was greeted with renewed optimism, but before the second half had kicked off at the KC, the Hornets were level at 1-1.
The tension was bubbling and within four minutes of the re-start City began to fear the worst.
Campbell, on as a half-time substitute, needed just one touch to make his mark on the contest when he broke clear of Abdoulaye Faye and expertly converted Kim Bo-Kyung's threaded pass.
It was then that the fairytale really began. Proschwitz, who had been introduced as a substitute for Simpson late in the first half, missed a golden chance to level matters almost instantly, but his moment arrived in the 58th minute.
After Marshall had denied David Meyler inside the box, the loose ball was collected by Quinn and swung in for Proschwitz to turn home ahead of Ben Nugent.
The dream was alive again and within five minutes the game was well and truly turned on its head. Brady's corner was swung in from the right flank and McShane was on hand to bundle home from close range - a goal that lifted the roof off the KC Stadium.
With that, City planted one foot in the Premier League but still spurned chances to strangle the last life out of their visitors.
Brady's shot was saved well by Marshall before the golden chance to book a top-flight ticket was missed by Proschwitz. Meyler was fouled inside the box by Ben Turner but the German's tame penalty was pushed out by Marshall.
Still it went on. Although Cardiff had been reduced to 10 men with Andrew Taylor dismissed, a long throw into the Tigers' box was cruelly adjudged to have been handled by Abdoulaye Faye and Maynard was invited to dispatch a cool penalty past Stockdale.
The KC Stadium was stunned into silence but there would be one more twist from the delayed fixture at Vicarage Road.
McCormack's late goal was the last fatal blow to Watford's automatic promotion hopes and ensured City's top-flight dreams were finally realised. East Yorkshire will party like its 2008 all over again.More on Hull City's promotion
• The story of the game in 10 pictures
• Steve Bruce: Hull City deserve promotion
• Fans celebrate as Hull City promoted to the Premier League
• Assem Allam thanks Hull City fans
• Relive the drama! Replay our live, interactive commentary
• Gallery: The story of Hull City's promotion season in pictures
• Seven matches that turned the season
