Perfect Huddersfield Town vs Nottingham Forest play-off final was written in stars all season

It had to be Nottingham Forest. It just did. Even when Steve Cooper’s side collapsed under the weight of Sheffield United’s pressure in the second half, even when Iliman Ndiaye went clean through on Brice Samba five minutes before the end of extra time, it just…had to be.

We’re not believers in fate, because what does that say about self-determination and free will? But sometimes it feels like the universe is just intent on telling certain stories, and over the second half of this remarkable Championship season, the two big stories have been the revival of Nottingham Forest and the remarkable form of Huddersfield Town.

When Forest made the decision to save Chris Hughton after an awful start to the campaign, the first team they beat was Huddersfield. When the Terriers needed a big win against top opposition in late December to assert that they were well and truly on the upward trajectory after their first few tentative steps out of a poor run of form, the City Ground provided the perfect venue.

When the FA Cup sixth round draw pulled Liverpool out of the hat, it just had to be the winner of Forest vs Huddersfield that provided their opposition; Forest triumphed. And when the race for third place went down to the final day, it was Huddersfield who took it after Forest were the victims of late drama away to Hull City. Call it 2-2, then.

That FA Cup game and the subsequent race for third, in particular, brought a previously-unknown degree of bite between the two sets of fans, who sniped at each other constantly on social media about fireworks, games in hand, bottle jobs, media love-ins, and anything else that could possibly be used as a way to twist the knife against the other foe.

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