Bristol City's dream continues

Memories of the scenes following Bristol City's 3-1 victory over Rotherham last May will stay with me for the rest of my life. Promotion to the Championship was the return to the 'Promised Land' that we had vacated for eight years previously. But that pales in comparison to the euphoria of reaching the play-off final last night, and not for the first time in the unlikeliest of circumstances.

Coming up from League 1 and leading the pack from the off, we were assured that we were going to fall away with every weekend that passed, and before facing Palace on Saturday, we had taken only 10 points from our last 11 games, to their impressive 22. And then, of course, there was the moment last night when it all turned back in our favour. Ben Watson's penalty, smashed against Basso's right post from 12 yards, which could, and should, have resigned us to defeat.

It's a shame that the FA feel the need to investigate what were, on the whole, good natured celebrations from City fans, but in their defence, the pitch last night was being encroached upon from all four sides well before the final whistle.

Even before the match kicked off, the whole night had a special feel to it. It's not often that you see the Atyeo, Dolman and Williams stands singing in unison during any City game. In fact it's not often you see the Williams singing at all, so this really was a special occasion. The noise throughout the game was as loud as I've ever heard from our fans, and I lost count of the strangers who hugged me as we ambled around the pitch after the game.

There does seem to be just a bit of a buzz surrounding the final. The general public around here get a lot of stick for the amount of Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal shirts seen in the city centre. I don't think I've seen so many Bristol City shirts away from Ashton Gate in my life as today, and so what if it's just for one day? We're finally getting the recognition that we've worked so hard for over the last 48 league games. We've got 36,007 tickets for Wembley, to be precise, and you can be sure they'll all be snapped up come this time next week, even if some fans will have to stump up £98 for their seat.

Our opponents in the £60 Million game will be Hull, which will make a fitting ending to the season; the two biggest cities in England never to host Premiership Football battling for the privilege to do so. Win or lose, we've far exceeded our wildest expectations in what was supposed to be a consolidation season, and it has, personally, never felt better to be a Bristol City fan.

See you at Wembley!

- Ron Walker