Posted on May 26

Huddersfield clinched promotion to the Championship after holding their nerve to defeat Sheffield United 8-7 on penalties following a 0-0 draw in the League One play-off final at Wembley on Saturday.

Simon Grayson's side missed their first three penalties in the shoot-out, but still emerged victorious when United goalkeeper Steve Simonsen blazed his spot-kick high over the crossbar.

Huddersfield's Tommy Miller, Damien Johnson and Alan Lee had all missed in the shoot-out, but Blades duo Lee Williamson and Matt Lowton also failed before Andy Taylor hit the post to give Town a lifeline.

Town goalkeeper Alex Smithies converted his kick to make it 8-7 and Simonsen's failure meant Huddersfield had finally ended two years of play-off heartache, which saw the Yorkshire club beaten by Peterborough in last year's final and Millwall in the semi-finals in 2010.

Huddersfield are back in the Championship for the first time since 2001, while Grayson has now won promotion from English football's third tier three times after previous successes with Blackpool and Leeds.

"When we put together the first five penalty takers we didn't expect it to go down to the goalkeepers to take them," Grayson said.

"We missed the first three, so how we recovered from that I'll never know.

"I couldn't affect anything so I just sat down on the bench next to my chairman, I didn't watch any of them.

"Sometimes it's written in the stars, you get your bit of luck and we managed to do that."

In contrast, there was only despair for United, who had finished nine points ahead of Huddersfield in the League One table.

It was a suitably downbeat ending to a troubled campaign for Danny Wilson's team, who lost their automatic promotion battle with arch rivals Sheffield Wednesday after leading scorer Ched Evans was jailed for rape just before the end of the season.

The Blades have now lost four play-off finals after defeats in the Championship in 1997, 2003 and 2009.

Wilson added: "I can't think of a worse way to lose. Steve had a terrific game. Who would have thought it would come down to the two keepers?

"These boys are devastated, all their hard work has been taken away, it's very difficult to console them."

Huddersfield Town's Damien Johnson (back) comes in to challenge Sheffield United's Stephen Quinn during the League 1 Play-Off Final football match at Wembley Stadium in London. Huddersfield won the game 8-7 on penalties to win promotion to the Championship next season.

Huddersfield Town's Damien Johnson (back) comes in to challenge Sheffield United's Stephen Quinn during the League 1 Play-Off Final football match at Wembley Stadium in London. Huddersfield won the game 8-7 on penalties to win promotion to the Championship next season.