Football's 'richest game' hard to lose

The difference between Bristol City and Hull City over 46 league matches was one point. When it mattered over 90 minutes at Wembley, they were separated by one goal. Today the gulf between the clubs is £60 million, writes chief sports writer Steve Cotton.

Welcome to the harsh reality of the Championship play-off final.

Even as some of the 36,000 Bristolians at Wembley were making their way toward the exits, the stadium announcer was already inadvertently rubbing their noses in their team's big-match defeat.

“Hull City! You're going to the Premier League,” he gushed. “You're going to Old Trafford . . . Stamford Bridge . . . Anfield!”

It was not supposed to end this way, of course, with Dean Windass' blond crewcut and brilliant volley replacing Steve McClaren and his umbrella as the defining image of the new Wembley.

It was not supposed to end with Jamie McCombe, City's towering central defender, being so sick and weak on the morning of the game that he could not line up alongside Louis Carey and against the wily Windass.

And it was not supposed to end with Bradley Orr's left eye being swollen shut after an accidental clash of heads, his cheekbone fractured and him departing on a stretcher with an oxygen mask strapped to his face.

But then that is exactly the problem with sporting occasions of this magnitude: two into one does not go and there always has to be a loser. For 50 per cent of those who reach this stage, there simply is no dream ending.

That is the world Bristol City woke up to yesterday and the one they will have to get used to over the coming weeks and months. City were 90 minutes away from the Premier League but their world remains the Championship. Harsh but true. And what happens next for them is almost more important than what has happened over the past nine months.

For all the talk of a trip to Wembley being a “great day out“, the national stadium is certainly no place to be a loser. And, if anything, the touching-distance anticipation of a previously unchartered world makes play-off final defeat – and more specifically, Championship play-off final defeat – more galling than even an FA Cup final loss at the stadium.

For those City supporters who travelled to the capital on Saturday, the great day out ended at 3.38pm when Windass, unmarked on the edge of the penalty box, superbly gave Hull a lead they did not surrender.

The atmosphere in the red-and-white end understandably struggled to reach its earlier ear-drum-aggravating levels after that hammer blow as Hull held on for victory.

The Championship play-off final is a peculiar beast because it has taken on an almost mythical status in the world of sport.

As a result of the quite incredible sums of money handed over by sponsors and broadcasters from across the world, it has grown over the past two decades into this behemoth of a fixture: The Richest Match In The World and all the rest of it.

But this was about far more than money. It was about the possibility of a second successive promotion, the opportunity to visit some of the best grounds in the world and to watch some of the planet's best players here in this very city.

For players such as Lee Trundle, Marvin Elliott and Adriano Basso, it was about an opportunity to prove they could perform at the highest level of the English game.

For the supporters – those 263 hardy souls who travelled to Hull for a goalless draw on a bitter Tuesday evening in November deserve a special mention alongside the 35,744 others who headed to Wembley – it was about the possibility of realising a 28-year dream.

There will be no sight of Cristiano Ronaldo or Fernando Torres at Ashton Gate next season and no televised Saturday evening banter between Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson about City's back four.

There will be no father-and-son Conference-to-top-flight snippet for the football trivia enthusiasts to file away, and no opportunity for the cynics – and, oh yes, they exist – to make their matter-of-fact “they'll get fewer points than Derby” declarations before a ball has even been kicked.

Instead, what are City left with? That is ultimately up to Steve Lansdown, Gary Johnson and the players to determine.

Johnson undoubtedly has the nucleus of a squad to repeat this season's feats; City's fourth-placed finish over a 46-match period proves as much.

There was little between the sides on Saturday – one moment of expert finishing proving the £60 million margin.

But City's plus-one goal difference at the end of the regular campaign highlights a deeper issue that surfaced several times on Saturday: they need a goalscorer. The Robins did not have a single player who broke into double figures over the course of the season.

While Hull have the pace of Fraizer Campbell and the guile of Windass to trouble defences, City have no such luxury. Even one frontman with nuisance-making qualities and an eye for goal would be a start.

City did have their chances, though, notably in the 85th minute, when Michael Turner threw himself in front of Trundle's goal-bound effort and deflected it over the bar and to safety.

City had built good momentum by that point, but ultimately they could not find a way through and were left to ponder a fifth play-off exit from five attempts.

The positives of this remarkable season may not be at the forefront of Johnson's mind just yet, but they will come. In the cold light of day, they will show themselves to him and his players.

Promoted from League One only a year ago, City, their manager, players, staff and supporters have plenty to feel proud about today – even if their budget for the coming year does not include that additional £60 million.