Brown: Top flight within reach May 15 2008
Phil Brown savoured a "tremendous night" after his Hull side thrashed Watford to reach the Championship play-off final and set up a first Wembley appearance in the club's 104-year history.
The Tigers romped to a 6-1 aggregate win as goals from Nick Barmby, Caleb Folan, Richard Garcia and Nathan Doyle completed a stirring comeback over Adrian Boothroyd's team in the second leg after Darius Henderson's opener had briefly stunned a packed KC Stadium.
Hull-born duo Barmby and Dean Windass were also on target in the first encounter last weekend to help fire their hometown club to within one game of reaching the top flight for the first time.
Only Bristol City on May 24 now stands between Hull and a place in the Premier League and Brown paid tribute to the manner in which his players responded after Henderson's 12th-minute strike.
"It's a tremendous night for the football club," beamed Brown. "We're 90 minutes away from the Premier League now and that has been our gameplan all season."
Henderson's early effort - a clinical 10-yard finish after an intricate passage of play involving Jobi McAnuff - was cancelled out by Barmby on the stroke of half-time. Folan, Garcia and Doyle then all scored in a breathless final 20 minutes to spark wild celebrations among the home supporters.
Brown added: "I take my hat off to Adrian. He came here with a gameplan and an attitude to never say die. I listened to everything he had to say before the game and I couldn't see a chink in the armour and then all of a sudden they get a goal.
"We weren't winning our individual battles at that stage and that concerned me. It was 35 minutes on the clock before we actually went in to a challenge.
"Then the last 10 minutes of the first half were significant in the game. Nick Barmby got the goal that settled us down and for me the second-half performance was so powerful I was really proud of the players.
"I felt the Nick Barmby goal allowed me to be more constructive at half-time as opposed to losing the plot."
Brown was quick to play down the post-match hysteria sweeping through the KC Stadium, warning his side they still have work to do to join already promoted West Brom and Stoke in the top flight.
"I feel like I'm putting a dampener on it when we haven't done the job yet," he added.
"It's great getting to Wembley and it's one of the milestones that we needed to achieve and we've achieved it.
"But as I've said before nobody remembers a losing finalist. We've got go there now with a gameplan and finish the job."
Watford boss Aidy Boothroyd was pragmatic in the assessment of his team's comprehensive defeat over the two legs.
The Hornets topped the table from September to early December before an alarming slump in form - they finished the season with one win in 16 games - saw the club's hopes of an immediate top-flight return end in tatters.
Boothroyd will now hold an "inquest" and has vowed to make changes at Vicarage Road over the summer.
"I thought we played very, very well in the first half," he said.
"I thought we dominated the game and showed our intentions and scored a good goal and had chances to score more and then conceded a very, very poor goal with three minutes to go until half-time.
"In the second half, we were always chasing and when you are chasing you are liable to get caught on counter-attacks and that's what happened.
"As you would probably expect I'm quite low. We're a club that wins and we've gone out on the night to Hull, who I wish all the very best.
"We've had a good run and when it's not your time, it's not your time."