2) The play-offs become more of a lottery every year
After an even fixture, in which neither side was able to capitalise, it came down to penalties to decide who would win promotion to the Premier League.
Michael Hefele’s miss from 12 yards gave Reading the advantage with Ali Al-Habsi making his presence felt, but Liam Moore smashed over and Danny Ward repeated his heroics from Hillsborough in the semi-finals by denying Jordan Obita, allowing Christian Schindler to secure Premier League status with his penalty.
Jaap Stam’s side can understandably feel frustrated to see a league season of 49 fixtures be decided by penalties, but it just goes to show how close the top of the Championship has become. The Yorkshire club only edged past Sheffield Wednesday on penalties on the semi-final with only five points separating the four play-off sides in the league table.
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