Kevin Phillips grabbed the golden goal to fire Crystal Palace into the English Premier League and end his play-off final hoodoo.
The evergreen striker, who turns 40 in the summer, kept his nerve to blast in an extra-time penalty and dash his former club Watford’s dreams of promotion.
It was a special moment for Phillips, who had lost all three of his previous play-off finals.
It was special too for Manchester United-bound Wilfried Zaha, the young winger who signed off as a Palace player by winning the penalty and ensuring they will join him in the top flight next season.
Special, too, for manager Ian Holloway, whose Blackpool side were beaten by West Ham in last year’s final, and who has been the fiercest critic of Watford’s controversial use of loan players.
The Championship’s player of the year Matej Vydra, one of the 10 players Watford borrowed from sister clubs in Italy and Spain, endured a miserable first half and limped off at half-time.
Instead, it was Zaha who caught the eye throughout, and he lured Marco Cassetti into the clumsy lunge which ultimately settled the match in the 104th minute.
The 20-year-old created Palace’s only chance of the first half with a scintillating run down the right, leaving Nathaniel Chalobah and Cassetti chasing shadows before pulling the ball back to Owen Garvan, whose shot was blocked.
Watford, the top scorers in the Championship this season, were strangely subdued and caused few alarms in the Palace penalty area.
It took almost an hour for their first shot on target to be registered, and Alex Geijo’s grasscutter did not pose Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni any problems.
In extra-time it was Speroni who was forced into action to claw the ball from underneath Troy Deeney as he chased Almen Abdi’s cross.
But the breakthrough came when Cassetti, by now dizzy having been twisted and turned by Zaha yet again, brought the winger down in the area. Referee Martin Atkinson pointed to the spot and Phillips crashed the penalty high into the net.
The drama did not end there with Joel Ward clearing Fernando Forestieri’s shot off the Palace goal-line in stoppage time.
But it was Zaha, Phillips and Holloway who were celebrating moments later as the Eagles secured their return to the top flight after an eight-year absence.