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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.

Richard Scudamore... Where did it all go wrong?

To say that Richard Scudamore has become an infamous figure in domestic football would be a gross understatement. As the race for the Premier League hots up, a certain unnamed newspaper columnist put his weight firmly behind the camp of Crystal Palace in their assault on the play-offs last weekend. His reasoning? Scudamore's allegiance to Bristol City.

5th time lucky? The key lies at the Palace.

You can't knock Bristol City fans for disliking the thought of settling for the Championship play-offs despite coming straight up from League 1 the previous season; In the 21 year history since the system was introduced domestically, City have been involved 4 times, and despite finishing in the top position twice, have consistently failed to win promotion using the contentious method.

They say that form doesn't matter in the play-offs, and they'd better be right - a 5-0 thrashing of Burnley by Crystal Palace on Sunday will have done their confidence no end of good. But, so long as we can keep 11 men on the field for more than 7 minutes, we should be able to surpass Burnley's somewhat meagre achievement at Selhurst Park.

So near, yet so far.

Just under 12 months ago I witnessed a travesty of a performance by Bristol City at Milwall, in a game that, had we won, would have sealed our promotion to the Championship. After that shambles, the thought of finishing in the Championship play-offs, with the Premiership prize still on offer well into May 2008, would have seemed a million miles away - had I even contemplated being there.