Fast and furious final day drama is all very well, but a gentle canter over the line is better for the nerves. Sunderland's comfortable win at Morecambe made sure it was very much a case of the latter.
There were no guarantees ahead of time that that was how it would turn out. With Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday, Wycombe, and Plymouth competing for just three available play-off places, there was the potential for an uncomfortable afternoon for the Black Cats at the Mazuma Stadium.
A win would do it for Sunderland, but if they had had one of those days where they could not buy a goal (Charlton and Lincoln away spring to mind) or - worse - suffered a shock defeat (see Doncaster at home, Cheltenham away), it would have left them hostages to fortune. In the end, victory meant the Black Cats secured a fifth-placed finish, and with it a play-off date with Sheffield Wednesday, under their own steam and without having to rely on the shortcomings of others.
READ MORE: Sunderland boss Alex Neil on Dennis Cirkin's chances of returning for the play-off semi-final
Sunderland went into the final day in fifth place and they never looked in any danger of missing out on a top six finish. With only ten minutes gone, Corry Evans' precise pass split the Morecambe defence with Nathan Broadhead racing through to steer his finish past ex-Black Cats academy goalkeeper Trevor Carson, and that set them on their way.
By half-time, with Plymouth trailing 3-0 and down to ten men against MK Dons, it was clear that Sunderland had nothing to worry about. Sunderland were not at their best and were unable to add to their single-goal lead - an injury to Broadhead which forced him off inside the opening half-hour making that task more difficult and, more importantly, giving boss Alex Neil a headache going into the play-offs.
But at no stage did Morecambe look like scoring, with Sunderland's back three of Bailey Wright, Danny Batth, and Luke O'Nien keeping 23-goal striker Cole Stockton under wraps, and denying the Shrimps a single shot on target all game on their way to another clean sheet. Despite Morecambe's defeat, it was one of those days where everyone went home happy.
Results elsewhere meant that Derek Adams' side survived in League One, and there was a party atmosphere from the record crowd of just over 5,800 at full-time. Trebles all round!
Neil pronounced it 'job done', and in one sense it certainly was because when he took over back in February a play-off place looked anything but assured. Over his 15 games in charge, Sunderland have collected 30 points - hitting the two-points-per-game return that Wigan averaged over the course of the entire season to win the league - and that is a fine achievement.
But in another sense, the job has not yet begun. Sunderland are in the play-offs for a third time in four seasons, but the play-offs are only a means to an end.
At the start of the season, I wrote that promotion was the yardstick - the only yardstick - by which Sunderland's season would be judged. Finishing fifth and going on to win promotion via the play-offs would rank as success, but come up short in the semi-finals as they did last year against Lincoln, or at Wembley as they did against Charlton three years ago, and fifth-place is just fifth-place.
Notwithstanding those recent play-off failures, and for those with longer memories the ones in 2004, 1998, 1990, and 1987, Sunderland fans have cause to be optimistic going into the end-of-season jamboree. In Neil they have a sharp, tactically astute, manager, who has taken the squad he inherited and tightened up the defence without sacrificing attacking threat.
He will be keeping his fingers crossed that Broadhead's injury does not rule him out of the play-offs, and that defenders Dennis Cirkin and Callum Doyle are fit to return, although Carl Winchester seems unlikely to be involved.
Sunderland go into the play-offs in good form, on the back of a 13-game unbeaten run, and knowing that their most recent meeting with Sheffield Wednesday ended with them routing the Owls 5-0 at the Stadium of Light in December, albeit they lost 3-0 in the reverse fixture the previous month. They have earned another shot at promotion. This time they must make it count.
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