Watford's amazing season is just 90 minutes away from ending the best way possible with a place in the Barclays Premiership following a nervy goalless draw with Crystal Palace in the Coca-Cola Championship Play-off Semi-Final Second Leg at Vicarage Road last night.
With the Golden Boys three goals to the good after Saturday's first leg in South London the onus was very much on the visitors to make an early breakthrough on an evening of high octane pressure.
To this extent canny Eagles manager, Iain Dowie had made three changes to his starting eleven from the weekend with Mikele Leigertwood, Gary Borrowdale and Dougie Freedman being preferred to Darren Ward, Ben Watson and Clinton Morrison, who surprisingly did not even make the bench.
Watford for their part kept the same side that took the field for the second period at Selhurst Park, Al Bangura retaining his place in midfield as Darius Henderson missed out.
In truth the Golden Boys never looked in danger of relinquishing their overall advantage they had built up in a sensational second half on Saturday, but what was always a competitive tie boiled over in amazing fashion on the hour that could have serious consequences for both clubs.
The spark was innocuous enough with Watford manager Adrian Boothroyd, attempting to get the ball to one of his players so a throw-in could be taken quickly, clashed with Crystal Palace defender, Fitz Hall. The two became involved in a heated exchange and all hell threatened to break loose as players and staff from both teams, plus stewards, became embroiled in an ugly mass touchline brawl.
When some form of order was finally restored Hall was booked, but worryingly for the Golden Boys their charismatic manager was sent to the stands by Somerset based referee, Mr. Tanner, raising the serious possibility he may be banned from the touchline for the final in eleven days time because the football authorities are almost certain to look into the incident.
That apart there was little meaningful action during the 90 minutes, with Watford's disciplined five-man midfield and defence coping impressively with the best Crystal Palace had to offer to the extent that Watford keeper Ben Foster was never seriously tested throughout the ninety minutes.
Although the away side enjoyed plenty of possession during the opening stanza they failed to carve out any real openings and with Malky Mackay and Jay DeMerit in particular, defending stoically there was nothing for the majority in the 19, 041 strong crowd to get over anxious about.
The second half saw the introduction of Eagles talented midfielder, Ben Watson in place of the surprisingly subdued Michael Hughes but he failed to ignite the desperately needed repost for his team and as the half wore on the Palace fans housed in the Lower Rous Stand became ever more resigned to their fate as the Watford supporters predictably turned up the deafening noise with enthusiastic gusto.
What little meaningful goalmouth action there was came in the last 20 minutes.
Marlon King sent an overhead kick narrowly wide, before Crystal Palace's two other substitutes combined, Jon Macken glancing a Marco Reich cross just the wrong side of Foster's left-hand upright.
Watford looked the more likely to go on and snatch victory on the night in the closing stages as the visitors were finally forced to admit defeat in their bid to reach a record fifth play-off final.
The final whistle sparked jubilant scenes amongst the ecstatic Watford fans as Boothroyd began to turn his mind to beating his former club, Leeds United, in Cardiff on May 21.
Golden Boys man of the match: Although the sponsors named Malky Mackay as man of the match, and he truly was outstanding in the heart of the Watford defence, here at the Golden Boys we make no apologies for again naming the Team collectively as deserving of the award, as all 12 Golden Boys who took to the field excelled in helping make the play-off final place become a reality.