“All too often a football match doesn’t live up to the hype. As Southampton’s players danced on the pitch and their fans sang about a return to Wembley and a chance to gain promotion to the Premier League, opponents Middlesbrough were crestfallen and wondering how it had ended like this after a week dominated by a spying row involving the two teams. Over two energy-sapping legs and more than three-and-a-half hours of football, Southampton required a 116th-minute winner from Shea Charles to come from behind on the night and eliminate Middlesbrough from the Championship play-offs and advance to the final against Hull City on Saturday, May 23. …”
NYT/ATH