Hamilton Accies managed to sneak into the play-offs after a battling stalemate at Arbroath.
John Rankin's men started the day bottom of the table but they benefited from Cove’s 2-1 loss against Morton to avoid automatic relegation on goal difference from Cove and now live to fight another day.
They will go into a shoot-out with the League One promotion contenders to try to preserve their league status, travelling to either Alloa or Airdrie on Tuesday night in the semi-final first leg.
Arbroath and Hamilton were two of nine teams in the Championship that had it all riding on 90 minutes of football.
Events 47 miles north of Gayfield where Cove Rangers hosted Morton, were always going to have a significant bearing on the outcome in Arbroath.
Defeat for Cove meant that only a seven-goal hammering for Arbroath at the hands of Hamilton would dislodge the Angus side from eighth place and automatic survival.
A Cove loss would also hand Accies a lifeline and mean a draw would be enough for them to go into the relegation play-offs.
Those permutations meant this was always going to be a nervy night for both teams.
Arbroath were once again backed by and impressive 2,000 plus home crowd, with 300 making the trip north to back the Lanarkshire side.
Accies have had more than their share of last day dramas over the years.
And while a resounding 7-0 win seemed incredibly unlikely at kick-off, they did have previous form.
In 2014 they beat Morton 10-2 on the final day of the season, only just missing out on the Championship title to Dundee.
They then overturned a 2-0 first leg deficit to beat Hibernian and clinch a spot in the Scottish Premiership.
But these are different times and they have brought different pressures for the SPFL Trust Trophy winners.
Arbroath fans’ favourite Bobby Linn was handed a rare start after issuing a pre-match battle cry to the home fans.
And Linn had the game’s first chance in seven minutes as his low 18-yard effort was smothered by Hamilton keeper Ryan Fulton.
Moments later Linn came close again as the ball broke to him on the edge of the box but he fired over.
Arbroath were looking the likelier and skipper Tam O’Brien met a Michael McKenna cross only to see his header blocked on the line.
With that chants of ‘sack the board’ started from the away end in protest against owner Colin McGowan, the visiting fans then almost had something to cheer about as Daniel O’Reilly connected with Connor Smith’s corner only for Derek Gaston to produce a stunning point-blank save.
The visitors had appeals for a penalty turned down on 45 minutes, claiming Connor Smith’s strike had come off O’Brien’s hand.
But referee Steven McLean wasn’t interested and the sides went in goalless at the break.
That left both teams tuning in nervously to events at fog-hit Cove with the hosts drawing 1-1 with Morton.
At half-time Arbroath were safe, Cove were holding onto a play-off spot and Hamilton were going down.
But it was the hosts who came out of the traps quickest with Linn seeing his 25-yard strike cannon off Reghan Tumilty and wide for a corner.
Linn was tormenting the Accies defence at every turn and the only thing missing from a five-star display was a goal.
He almost set O’Brien up for one on 71 minutes with the defender juggling in the box before Fulton stopped.
Fulton was again the hero for Hamilton with a low block from sub David Gold and a fingertip save from Ricky Little.
Gold then cracked a drive off the bar from 15 yards.
But Arbroath did enough to get over the line and secure their Championship status, with Accies heading into the play-offs.
Arbroath: Gaston 7, Banks 6, Stewart 7, Little 7, O’Brien 7, Bitsindou 7 (Balde 87, 3), Hetherington 6, McKenna 7, El-Mhanni 6 (Gold 62, 5) Hilson 7, Linn 8 (Allan 90, 1) Subs: Gill, Jacobs, Komolafe, Tait, Olusanya, Allan, Balde. Booked: Stewart.
Hamilton: Fulton 7, O’Reilly 7, Martin 7, McGowan 6, Winter 6 (Winter 78, 3) C. Smith 7, Tumilty 6 (Ashley-Seal 78, 3), Lawson 7, Owens 6 (Spence 58, 4) Mimnaugh 6, Tiehi 5 (Zanatta 46, 5) Subs: J. Smith, Easton, Ashley-Seal, Sparrow, De Bolle, Morgan. Booked: Zanatta, McGowan.
Referee - Steven McLean 7
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